Friend or Foe?
by Dusta2002
Summary: A remote research base holds an injured Predator that crash landed nearby. Is it friend or foe? The base may hold the key to ending the Alien threat but an imminent attack threatens to destroy it before rescue can arrive. This story is bigger in scope than it first seems...
1. Prologue

The Predator looked at them helplessly. It was held down in a specially made 'bed'. Specially made for it since there had been plenty of time, 11 weeks to be exact, to construct the bed while whatever it was recuperated unconsciously in an unused Alien cage.  
  
"Any luck?" asked a clean-shaven, bald headed man in a white lab coat.  
"As a matter of fact yes," replied a woman also in a white lab coat. She went on, "It's started to mimic us."  
"In what way?"  
"Watch," she said.  
The woman, Amy Portman, lifted her left hand in a thumbs up, friendly gesture. The man looked on astonished as the Predator mimicked her exactly.  
"Is it friendly?" the man asked.  
"We're not sure yet, but it hasn't shown any hostility. It might know that we were the ones who helped it, but then again it might try to kill us," Amy told him.  
"Well, we don't know how long we've got. We have to know soon." 


	2. Endora Prime

Soldiers were patrolling actively and attentively. A few civilians were going about their jobs in a slight hurry. Some were repairing part of the outer perimeter wall, guarded by 8 soldiers.  
  
Part of the wall had been melted away by the acidic blood of many Aliens, 39 according to the last count. The wall was now being repaired as quickly as possible.  
  
The attack had taken place the day before. There had been many of these small attacks lately, growing more frequent. The base had now been put on high alert as intelligence suggested that a large-scale attack was going to take place very soon.  
  
These attacks began taking place as soon as the soldiers had populated the area two years ago, whose job it had been to make it safe for others to live there. Amazingly during these two years there were only a small number of fatalities and few injuries, these occurring from splashes of acidic blood or just plain carelessness.  
  
The reason for the low casualties was the wall itself, purpose built to withstand Alien attacks. 14 feet high and 8 feet thick, 3 of these solid steel sandwiched with thick solid concrete on either side. It was lubricated with a special layer that stopped Aliens from climbing it. The wall was mounted with turrets. These were heat-seeking turrets which locked on and opened fire on the Aliens heat signature, but did not fire at humans, as the heat signature was very different.  
  
Soldiers were posted at the one entrance, a huge metal 'door' made of 5 feet thick solid steel, and the same height as the wall. It wasn't used very often but was needed to allow workers to work on the outside of the wall. There were soldiers posted inside the towers which formed part of the wall, and many around the inside of the huge base. The base itself was a complex of many buildings, living quarters, laboratories, and other such buildings.  
  
When the Aliens had first struck they were easily wiped out. But each attack became more of a threat then the last. Aliens had watched out of range of the defences and learnt fast.  
The defences had been constantly tested. In the attack the day before the Aliens had burst out, without warning, of the thick forest which surrounded the base, into the clearing and with blinding speed moved towards the base.  
  
The clearing had been made purposely but work had stopped early, as it had become too risky. The Aliens had made it to the wall with just 2 of them being killed. They had been running in a zigzag pattern, obviously knowing that they were confusing the autoguns. Once at the wall they had clawed at the concrete and with surprising ease, had dug it. They got through the 2 and a half-foot of thick concrete before finally being destroyed by a grenade. The acidic blood had also melted through part of the steel.  
  
This made the soldiers realise the main weakness of the wall. If Aliens got in about 4 feet then it would be very hard to kill them as they were on the inside and it would be impossible to get an angle to shoot at the Aliens. This was bad.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------  
  
In space a huge Colonial transport ship is moving fast - Destination: Endora Prime  
  
"How long?" an ageing, battered Colonel Gordon Rayner asked.  
  
"Six days, Sir," came the reply from a much younger, fresher Lieutenant Williams.  
  
"Damn. We need those specimens alive. Especially the new one."  
  
"The one from the crash site?" the young Lieutenant asked.  
  
"Yeah. The Company need that specimen for study. They believe it holds the key to beating the Aliens."  
  
"What's the main objective, Sir?"  
  
"Information. Two years of studying these bastards. We haven't been in contact for a long time with the scientists at Endora Prime. They've collected a lot of data. All vital. Main objective is to secure as much information as possible, and bring it back intact."  
  
"What about those living there?" Williams queried.  
  
"Expendable."  
  
"Expendable sir?" he asked, confused.  
  
"Our main objective is to secure that information. Our second objective is to secure as many specimens as we can, specifically the ones we've enhanced," the Colonel explained.  
  
"You mean the bio-engineered, part machine Xenomorphs?"  
  
"Yes. Release one of them into an Alien nest and it'll kill as many Aliens as possible. It's been programmed to home in on the Queen. You see, the Aliens always know where their Queen is. These Xenomorphs will find it and kill it. They can easily hold off twenty, thirty normal Aliens and if their life signs are dangerously low they'll self destruct, taking a good chunk of the planet with them."  
  
"I see, Sir."  
  
"Our third objective," Colonel continued, "is to rescue as many survivors as possible. They'll be at one of three evacuation points. Most of them will be dead already so we'll have to be ready to see anything, I can't afford to have men sick or their head'll get ripped off while they're busy puking."  
  
"Those are our objectives. What background information were you given?" Colonel Rayner asked.  
  
"Just that the base was used for the study of these Aliens. Looking for weaknesses, their Achilles heel, Sir." Williams replied.  
  
"That's right," the Colonel confirmed.  
  
"Wouldn't the Company have kept in contact with the base to collect information, Sir?" the Lieutenant asked.  
  
"They did, until eight weeks ago. The ship was in constant orbit around the planet, in constant communication with the base. Only minimal information was collected..."  
  
"Why was that, Sir?" Williams cut in.  
  
"The base had been hastily built. Once the perimeter wall was up and running we realised that there was not enough room for ships to land, not even small ones, and don't cut in while I'm talking next time." Colonel Rayner answered.  
  
"Yes Sir, sorry Sir. But that means we'll have to land outside the wall," Williams realised.  
  
"Yes it does, unfortunately. We'll have to deploy by the gate, we know the access codes, once inside we complete our main two objectives ASAP, check for survivors and get out of there. Anyway, as I was saying, the ship was called away to help with the war."  
  
"The war? How are we doing with the wars?" Williams asked.  
  
"Badly. That's why we need whatever information is in that base, especially the specimens. No one knows about this war outside of the military and of course the Company. Families think that their sons and daughters are still in training. Most of them are dead along with millions of others. With this information we stand a chance," Colonel Rayner informed Williams. "Before the bastards make it to Earth."  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------  
  
Back at base, specifically one of the many huge laboratories constructed.  
  
"It's now trying to talk to us," Amy said. She was 5ft 10inches tall, with short blonde hair, and lovely green eyes, and had one of those radiant smiles which made others smile too.  
  
The clean shaven, bald headed scientist, whose name was Tom said "Hello," to the Predator.  
  
It replied "Hell" in a deep voice.  
  
"Yup, that's what it's going to be like around here soon," he said to it.  
  
"Hell - oo"  
  
"It's making good progress," noted Amy.  
  
"We were expecting to be attacked about 40 hours ago according to our intelligence, we may have some more time to communicate with it," she told him.  
  
The Predator lifted its hand and stuck it out as far as the restraints would allow, in a handshake gesture. The two scientists looked surprised at this. It had remembered when they shook hands in front of it two days ago.  
  
"Should I?" Tom asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, but it hasn't shown any signs of aggressiveness," she replied.  
  
"I am."  
  
Tom put his hand out and went towards the Predator. He touched hands and the Predator held his firmly. Amy relaxed when seeing this, and when the Predator let Tom's hand go, he was smiling.  
  
"I think we know the answer." Tom said delighted.  
  
"Should we let it out?" Amy asked.  
  
"We'll notify security, just in case." Tom answered.  
  
"Don't bring them in it might cause it to become aggressive. I've got to go check on our evacuation progress." Amy suggested.  
  
"I'll go tell security. I won't bring them in." Tom replied as he walked off towards the thick solid steel doors.  
  
Amy walked off towards another scientist who was busy moving things to the evacuation areas.  
  
"Everything ready?" she asked.  
  
"Just moving the last enhanced Xenomorph now," he said pointing to a solid steel cage, designed to be acid proof. A low shriek was heard from inside.  
  
"All backed up data?" Amy asked.  
  
"Yup, crates 1 & 2 at evac point Gus 1. A copy of crate 2 and crate 3 at Gus 2, and a copy of 3 and crate 4 at Gus 3," he replied. "All in the specially made crates."  
  
"Good. How about civilians and workers?" Amy continued, going through the mental checklist in her mind.  
  
"Most are at Gus 1, some at Gus 2. Gus 3 is for the soldiers, for when they retreat. All food has been checked. We'll be able to sustain ourselves for at least 14 days. By then we should be long gone from here," he said with hope evident in his voice. "Some are still repairing the wall. They should be done soon, and all communications operators are staying at the communications centre to help organise the soldiers when the attack is taking place."  
  
"Alright. I'll see you at Gus 2 then," Amy replied.  
  
"See you there," the scientist said as he and two others helped move the special crate along.  
  
The wall was now fully repaired. A workman got up and called one of the soldiers.  
  
"Repairs are complete. We can go back in now," the workman said.  
  
"Good, don't wanna stay out here any longer," the soldier acknowledged. He promptly went over to a keypad, punched in a code and the gate parted and opened with a loud rumble. No one seemed to notice a distortion of light as it moved past the gate towards the base. The gate closed with another load rumble and the soldiers went back to their separate internal patrols.  
  
In turret 3A, Privates Adams, Hurst, and Finley were having a little discussion, while Private Smith kept a wary eye out towards the forest.  
  
"So who would you bring along?" asked a well built 6ft tall Finley.  
  
He was the tallest of the four Privates in this turret. Battles scars had taken the place of most of his skin, his face spared. Battles fought many years ago. These battles had taken place in an initiative to take over three Alien infested planets. Millions died, there were hardly any injured. "Aliens don't take prisoners" a Private under his command had once told him. The battle had taken its toll on Private Finley. He had lost most of his platoon, who had been sent in to clear out a hidden enemy cave. The soldiers had had no backup, and were easily wiped out, except Private Finley who managed to retreat with a few of his men.  
  
He never saw his men again, after being taken for psych treatment. But he still blamed himself, and the Corporation. He had known that they stood little chance, but had been sent in nonetheless. He was demoted back to a Private and shipped here as the first soldiers to secure the base. He liked it here, he was part of a close knit family. Everyone knew everyone on this base.  
  
"Superman," was Adams' reply. Another veteran from the wars.  
  
Also well built but not as tall as Finley. His face bearing a scar which went down from the right side of his forehead, missing his eye, to his cheek. A scar which he took pride in. It made others respect him more, as most of them had been fresh out of camp two years ago. He had a crew cut, just like most other soldiers, including the three in this turret. He talked more than the others and was the more livelier of the lot, frequently making jokes to keep others entertained.  
  
"The Aliens would probably melt him, after all he's as hard as STEEL," commented Hurst.  
  
Hurst was a 'freshman' as was Smith. They were both of equal build and height although Smith was more quiet than Hurst. Smith liked to keep to himself but had become more open now, as he had been here for two years.  
  
Smith also had uncanny accuracy, noted in his file from his training days. He liked to pick Aliens off to keep in practice. The others also practiced with the sniper rifle regularly, particularly Adams, whose accuracy had greatly improved over the years here.  
  
Hurst enjoyed it here, just like everyone else. No real danger, heavy protection, no worries. Until now. Still, he tried to show no sign of tension or nervousness to keep morale high. Morale was high, although when the attack came soldiers would inevitably be killed. The base hadn't been designed to protect soldiers once its main lines of defence were breached, although measures had been taken.  
  
"How about the Flash?" asked an interested Finley.  
  
"Yeah, he'd literally run circles around them. He could even get to the Aliens nest, plant a bomb and be out of there in a matter of seconds." Adams said.  
  
"If only they were real."  
  
"If only."  
  
The radio suddenly burst to life, waking the three Privates from their fantasy land.  
  
"This is communications base. I'm tracking two signals on the infrared sensors."  
  
"What? Internal?" Adams said picking up the radio.  
  
"They're right here in the communications base, they're converging on our position," came the reply.  
  
"You got a visual?" Adams asked.  
  
"Negative. Cameras aren't picking up anything, even though sensors say the signals are right there I don't see anything. But there's something weird, all I see on the cameras are some distortions, but that can't be Aliens."  
  
"Alright, we're coming in. We'll come with two groups of four," Adams said, thinking fast.  
  
"Roger that. Be quick. Whatever it is it's getting close." 


	3. Communications

"Finley you come with me." Adams instructed, "I need six guys to meet us by the communications base's front entrance," he said over his radio.  
  
"Roger that," came the multiple confirmations.  
  
"This is communications. The signals have stopped by a storage room. Strange, all I see is that shimmer, but infrared is picking up two large signals."  
  
"Some sort of camouflage?" asked one of the eight over the radio while running towards the front entrance.  
  
"If it is, it's way more advanced then anything we've got," came communications' response.  
  
The eight marines met up at the front entrance, Adams instantly noticing that the six other marines had no real combat experience, excluding killing Aliens from relative safety.  
  
"Finley, you take them three and go to the rear entrance. We'll converge on the signals from both sides," Adams ordered, while he and his own three entered from the front.  
  
"Scanner active," Baseer, an Asian soldier, said.  
  
A quick nod from Adams confirmed that he understood.  
  
Blip.....Blip.....Blip.....  
  
As the group of four walked carefully towards the signals Adams couldn't help but think that the scanners were good for nothing but scaring the crap out of soldiers. Such things didn't help soldier's chances of survival when surrounded by a bunch of Aliens as Adams had been many times.  
  
"Anything?" asked Knight, another of the inexperienced soldiers, with apprehension deep in his voice and hands trembling slightly.  
  
Knight had never been in a situation where he faced the possibility of coming face to face with the Aliens he had watched constantly attack the base from afar for the last two years.  
  
"Negative," the fourth soldier on the team, Hartwell, responded.  
  
Adams noticed that his three men were visibly trembling. Having no previous combat experience in such an environment they were holding up pretty well while walking through seemingly endless corridors, turning here and there only to find another endless corridor exactly the same as the last.  
  
Adams had seen what could happen to those without proper training. Some would lose it and jeopardise the whole team. Adams had had to kill one of his own during the Alien Wars because of this. The soldier, a replacement for a lost team member, had started shouted incoherently and began firing his weapon at his own team. After everything he'd experienced that memory was something he couldn't put to the back of his mind at all times. Except right now.  
  
Finley and his men were in the opposite side of the building quickly converging on the signals.  
  
"Communications, info?" was all he whispered.  
  
"The signals entered the store room and vanished. We have no trackers in those rooms."  
  
_'Great'_ Finley thought, not wanting to frighten the others, this was just what he needed. The store rooms were massive with two large doors connecting them to the main corridors.  
  
"Alright guys don't get trigger happy. Our own guys are gonna be there too," he said, taking consideration of the visible tension in his three inexperienced men.  
  
His men managed a quick nod of confirmation, while concentrating hard on the area in front of them, scanner ready.  
  
"Picked up one signal exiting the room. No sign of the other. The signal is going east towards Finley's team," communications reported.  
  
"Damn! It's moving away from us," Adams exclaimed.  
  
"Alright Finley you take that one, we'll go for the store room." Adams instructed.  
  
Things were already looking bad. With the teams split up they wouldn't be able to provide cover for each other.  
  
"Roger." Finley replied, a steel calm in his voice.  
  
"This is communications. We just lot visual of the store room. Damn! The cameras have been taken out. Some of our infrared trackers gone too."  
  
Both teams paused at this.  
  
Adams made a plan, "Okay, here's the deal. Communications both teams will meet you there. We can't go after the signals blind, too dangerous. Communications keep us informed. We're on our way up. Everyone understand?"  
  
"Finley here, loud and clear, we're moving now. We're closer, should be there in two."  
  
"We'll keep the doors closed till you get to us."  
  
_'Shit!'_ Adams thought. Things just got worse.  
  
"Alright team, on the double, move it. Watch the scanner." Adams ordered.  
  
Baseer was already on it, never letting his eyes off the screen except to make sure he was running in the right direction.  
  
Blip.....Blip.....Blip.....  
  
Finley's team reached communications.  
  
"Boy are we glad to see you," Raul said with a sigh of relief.  
  
The other two communications personnel were also glad to see the four armed soldiers.  
  
Outside all around the base soldiers were apprehensive. Since radio frequencies had to be kept isolated no one knew what was happening inside the communications building, which also doubled as a storage warehouse, now almost empty.  
  
Could it be possible that Aliens had managed to get inside the compound some soldiers wondered. Others were readying themselves and their weapons in case backup was needed.  
  
"This is communications," the soldiers around the base went quite to listen, some nervously.  
"Finley and his team are with us. Adams and his team are on the way. We lost the signals when some of our cameras and sensors went down. We need backup. I repeat we need backup. We say again, there are two unknown entities inside the building. We need a complete sweep of the building and surrounding areas."  
  
At this various soldiers around the base radioed in confirming they were on the way.  
  
Paolo took lead of the various soldiers. He was an Italian soldier in this army.  
The army was made up from soldiers from all over Earth. Regardless of race or nationality as long as they could fight they were enlisted. Many weren't even born on Earth, but on the numerous colonies on other planets.  
  
Many of these colonies had been destroyed during the Alien Wars. A lot of these soldiers were looking to avenge their families who had been killed at these colonies.  
  
"Okay, keep it tight. We go in groups of four. We'll search from bottom to top. Keep all exits covered at all times," came Paolo's instructions to the various soldiers.  
  
Paolo was just as inexperienced as most of the soldiers in the base but he didn't show any signs of being nervous. He held his machine gun with a steady grip.  
  
The soldiers began the sweep of the building.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------  
  
Colonel Gordon Rayner sat at his desk reading the latest ship status reports. He sighed heavily, the upcoming rescue mission heavy on his mind. Everything was set for the rescue. Now it was just a long six days wait, about to become five.  
  
The huge colonial ship in which he currently sat carried thousands of soldiers and crew and hundreds of ships. There were ships of all kinds; dropships, gunships, bombers, scoutships, and more.  
  
The company were taking no chances with this mission. It was too vital. Vital for the fight against the Aliens. Vital for the survival of the human race. 


	4. Apprehension

Hurst and Smith stayed in turret 3A as it was necessary to keep watch for Aliens at all times. They had been listening to the open radio messages.  
  
There hadn't been anymore open radio contact since Communications had asked for a sweep of the entire building and the surrounding areas. It would take about fours hours to do so, considering that they didn't know what they were looking for.  
  
Dawn was breaking. Purple clouds where turning to white as the one Sun rose.  
  
Hurst looked at the sky as the daylight crept in. It reminded him of the sunrise back on Earth. That had been a long time ago. Hurst had left Earth at the age of 21 for military training. When told what his peers really meant by military training he had not believed it. Reality hit when he was sent on his first mission, a recon. He saw the Aliens first hand and realised it was all too true.  
  
The loud crack of a sniper rifle going off brought Hurst out of his day dream. He turned to Smith, who was looking idly outside.  
  
"What do you think it is Smith?" Hurst asked, deciding to break the almost dead-like silence of the entire base. Tension was high as many soldiers worried about the events of the last few hours.  
  
"I don't know. Never heard of anything like it" replied Smith, "One things for sure, it isn't one of those bastards" he continued while pointing a finger at the rotting carcass of a dead Alien in the clearing.  
  
Hurst glanced at it and scanned the area for any signs of movement. A thought suddenly hit him. Smith noticed this as Hursts tired face suddenly became alert, as if someone had just spilt ice cold water on his head.  
  
"What's wrong?" asked Smith with concern in his voice.  
  
"What if it is an Alien?" Hurst asked simply.  
  
"Go on" said Smith, wanting to know what his friend was thinking.  
  
"You know how our scientists created those damn accidents waiting to happen, the 'enhanced' Xenomorphs?" Smith nodded, "Well what if they somehow 'enhanced' them to become almost invisible, like that shimmer Raul described earlier?"  
  
"Hold up, invisible?" Smith questioned, his concern turning into a look of amusement.  
  
"Well up until a few years ago I'd have had the same reaction regarding aliens from outer space. Actually I did when the Company first told me. Then I was taken on my first mission." replied Hurst with all seriousness in his voice.  
  
"Son of a bitch!" shouted Smith as if someone had just hit him on the head.  
  
This made him think. If true it would mean that this close-knit family was not so close after all. This meant the scientists would have been keeping secrets between themselves, endangering the civilians and soldiers by doing so.  
  
When the base was built it had been decided that information vital to others would always be shared and not kept from anyone. Keeping secrets would mean endangering lives. This became the foundation of the unity of the base; everyone trusted everyone else. This trust was necessary as the base was to be kept operational as long as necessary and so the personnel would be working together for many years.  
  
Hursts theory, if true, would mean that this trust had never really existed. If others knew the harmony of the base would be broken. The soldiers and civilians would not trust the scientists anymore. This at a time when trust was needed most with the fate of humanity resting in the hands of the soldiers, civilians and scientists of Endora Prime.  
  
"If that's true why wouldn't they tell us? At least Amy would say something. She's always shared information some of the others thought not vital", Smith continued, trying to make sense of this new revelation and find a hole in Hursts' theory.  
  
"Orders higher up, the Company. Amy and the others couldn't do anything against the Company. You already know about the kind of things that happen to such people. Some are labelled insane, some disappear, some prison, others who knows. They would be helpless to tell us anything." Hurst said remembering past experiences.  
  
"So now what? Wait till these invisible things kill us?" Smith asked anger deep in his voice.  
  
"At the moment all we can do is wait. See what the sweep comes up with", Hurst sighed, feeling helpless. "We'll tell Adams and Finley when we get the chance"  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
Clink! The Predators restraints were removed. It looked down to where the restraints had been and then back at Amy. Tom was standing next her looking at the Predator. They were apprehensive and unsure of what it would do. Additional soldiers were ready and waiting outside the only exit in the lab in case of trouble. The soldiers recommended not releasing the Predator until the current problems were dealt with. Tom reminded them that there was no time to waste. It was a big risk, but they had to know whether it was friend or foe.  
  
The scientists could feel the ground vibrating as the Predator moved off the upright 'bed'. It turned its eyes to meet with Toms. Tom could see nothing in its eyes, no emotion, nothing to tell what the Predator would do.  
  
The Predator, at a height of over eight feet, easily towered over Amy and Tom. Most of its equipment had been removed when it was first brought into the base. The helmet; double tipped spear; wrist blades; shoulder mounted plasma cannon; razor disk and net launcher were being held in an adjacent laboratory. The scientists had realised after much trying that the wrist computer on the Predators left arm was seemingly fused into it. They had no clue that this device contained a self destruct capable of destroying the entire base.  
  
The Predators light armour and netting had also been removed. Battle scars from Aliens, the scientists had noted, covered its brownish red skin. It stood almost bare except for the armour around the midsection which Amy had insisted be left on, giving the obviously intelligent creature some dignity. Now she hoped this would help in negotiating with the Predator as she stood staring at it.  
  
"Hello" Tom said, breaking the eerie silence.  
  
The Predator continued to look at him seemingly in contemplation, mandibles clicking.  
  
"Hello" the Predator replied, almost exactly mimicking Toms voice.  
  
Amy and Tom stood there astounded. They were speechless for a few seconds.  
  
Tom, shaking his head to clear it and think straight, decided to continue the conversation.  
  
"What is your name?"  
  
"Kra'tak" replied the Predator, understanding the humans words.  
  
Tom looked at Amy, thinking the same thing. It learnt fast just by observation.  
  
"Hello Kra'tak my name is Tom" Tom said as he offered Kra'tak another handshake. Kra'tak shook his hand, just as before.  
  
"Tom" Kra'tak said and then looking at Amy "Amy"  
  
"Nice to meet you" said Amy with an apprehensive smile. She too shook Kra'taks hand, noting his strength.  
  
"Do you understand that we saved your life?" asked Tom. He wanted to know whether Kra'tak would understand and therefore more likely to be friendly.  
  
"I understand. Thank you" replied Kra'tak, obviously remembering the numerous times he had seen the humans use that phrase.  
  
Amys face lit up with a bright smile, all signs of nerves gone. She was quite sure that Kra'tak was grateful and friendly now. Tom also felt the same, especially considering that Kra'tak could have easily killed them by now but had not.  
  
Kra'tak then opened the wrist computer as Amy and Tom looked on in interest. Tapping various areas of the device Kra'tak ran a self diagnostic. He attempted to activate the cloaking device only to startle the scientists as electricity raced around his body and stopped. The cloaking device was damaged and would need repairing. Kra'tak would need his equipment.  
  
"Equipment" Kra'tak said, looking at Tom.  
  
"You want your equipment?" Tom asked, still wondering what had just happened. He decided to ask Kra'tak later, preferring not to risk aggravating him by asking too many questions too soon.  
  
"Yes"  
  
"Your equipment is in the next lab. We'll take you there now." Tom said as he picked up his radio. He had to inform the soldiers on guard outside of the situation.  
  
"Tom here. Kra'tak is friendly we're taking him to his equipment now"  
  
"Kra'tak?" was Private Heathers' puzzled reply. The others looked at her puzzled too and listened to the radio.  
  
"Kra'tak is the creatures name." Tom said, realising he forgot to mention it the first time.  
  
"Oh, ok. Understood. Over and out" Heather said still puzzled, wondering how they had learnt his name. She wanted to meet this Kra'tak.  
  
"Where do you think that thing's from" another soldier, Private Hale asked.  
  
"You mean Kra'tak? Well we didn't get a chance to explore its ship when we rescued it" Heathers replied.  
  
The soldiers continued to guard the lab with renewed interest. Their curiosity would have to wait.  
  
"All teams report in" Adams said over the radio. It had been three hours since the sweep began. The signals had constantly appeared and disappeared during the sweep, but there had been no visible sightings of them. Raul grew tired of constantly informing his men of a signal only for it to disappear and then reappear on the other side of the building. He was sure that the two signals had split up.  
  
"This is Paolo, no sign of anything" he reported while slowly clearing another room with his team.  
  
"This is East Entrance we're clear" Private Halden reported.  
  
"This is West Entrance in the clear" reported Private Paisley.  
  
The other sweep teams reported in giving the all clear much to everyones dismay.  
  
After reporting in Private Halden turned to Private Duante.  
  
"Got a smoke?"  
  
Private Duante, his rifle hanging by its sling, reached into a pocket and removed a pack of cigarettes. He took one out and handed it to Halden. They were positioned at one of the two entrances to the communications building.  
  
Halden lit the cigarette and took a long deep puff. Suddenly the metal door they were guarding opened. Duante dropped the pack of cigs and held his weapon in a ready position, as Halden turned around with his weapon pointing towards the entrance.  
  
All they could see was darkness beyond the door; the lights in the corridor were out. 


	5. Reprisal

"Communications this is Halden, is anyone else at East entrance?" Halden said over the radio as he looked at the corridor for signs of movement in the darkness.  
  
Raul, who had been falling asleep despite the situation, suddenly jumped to life. "This is communications. No one else is near you, why what's up?" he asked.  
  
"Our door just opened, all we can see is a corridor and the lights are out" Halden reported, seeing no signs of movement.  
  
"Shouldn't be, all internal lighting is on, be careful" replied Raul rubbing his tired eyes. His scheduled rest time was now but with current events it was on hold.  
  
Finley, seeing Rauls worried face decided to get involved. He had enough of sitting in the communications room; it was getting awful crowded in there with the eight soldiers and 3 communications personnel. He activated Rauls communications system.  
  
Finley looked at Adams who gave a confirming nod.  
  
"Finley here. Halden you two hold tight we're on our way. East entrance is right next to us"  
  
"Understood" Halden replied nervously.  
  
Damn! He thought. Halden was a freshman, just as his best mate Duante was. They had both trained together for many years. Then they were sent here. Ever since training they had made a vow to always go on missions together. This was their first and only one so far. They were good friends who were always playing jokes on others together. Halden liked it here, while Duante was more gung ho and eager for personal revenge.  
  
Duantes family had been killed in one of many Alien invasions of human colonies. He had watched as the creatures tore through his father who had managed to hold them of long enough for him and a few others to get away.  
  
Duante, thinking he may get a chance for up close and personal revenge, unlike the distant encounters so far, decided to take matters into his own hand.  
  
"I can't wait, I'm going in" he said moving towards the corridor.  
  
"What're you doing Dan?" Halden asked. He called Duante Dan for short because he felt Duante was too much of a mouthful.  
  
"If there's an Alien in there I wanna give it a personal message" Duante replied as memories of his fathers last moments flooded back to him. Seeing the Aliens ripping his father into pieces as he was dragged crying onto an evac ship. He had only been ten then.  
  
"Dan man, you know that's a mistake you heard what Finley said. Besides you can't go one on one. They see in the dark, we don't" Halden said surprised at his friends sudden change.   
  
Even though all soldiers carried night vision as standard it didn't help make Aliens stand out when it was black against black.  
  
"NO!" Duante shouted startling Halden "I've waited a long time for this" and with that Duante moved forward into the light-less corridor. Halden had no choice but to follow and cover his enraged friend as best he could.  
  
"Dan get the fuck back here! You're not thinking straight you can't fight like this" Halden tried one last time to stop his best friend but to no avail. Duante continued on in the corridor all sounds drowned out by his memories. Halden tensed up as he entered the corridor.  
  
Finley held up his hand motioning the team to stop. He activated his radio.  
  
"Who's shouting?" he asked.  
  
Halden jumped when his radio burst to life. He fumbled for it as it was hard to see in the green world of night vision.  
  
"Its Duante he's gone crazy all of a sudden. Saying he wants personal revenge. We're in the corridor he won't listen to me" Halden whispered. He knew if there was something here it was definitely on to them with the amount of noise they had already made.  
  
Duante was looking around quickly, eager to find his revenge. He was walking fast down the corridor without taking any notice of where he was going. Halden followed him as best he could.  
  
As Halden turned a corner he could hear a gurgling sound. The sight before him caused him to lose all control of himself as his hands let go of his weapon and he froze. He stared in shock as Duante was held up in the air his chest armour ripped apart with blood spurting out of a wound. All Halden could see was a strange shimmer, nothing else.  
  
Blood sputtered out of Duantes mouth as he gurgled for a few more seconds before his body fell limp. Halden watched the strange shimmer move away through his night vision as Duantes body hit the ground with a dull thud.  
  
"GET DOWN!"  
  
Halden snapped out of his frozen state and did as instructed hitting the ground as someone fired down the corridor in which Duante had just been killed. Explosive tipped bullets dug into the ground and walls all around the corridor.  
  
"Cover me" Finley shouted from behind Halden as he moved down the corridor. His team followed.  
  
Halden could see that Duante was twitching. He ran to his fallen friend and kneeled down by Duantes side. Tears fell down Haldens face onto Duantes lifeless body. He cradled his best friends body, crying.  
  
"Dan man, why did you do this. You left me man. We made a promise long ago. We'd never leave each other, we'd always be here for each other. You left me..." Halden sobbed, conflicting emotions welling up inside him. Anger. Sadness. Fear.  
  
Finley listened to this as he and his team secured the area as best they could. He didn't know what to think. There had never been a killing in the base. Those who had died or were killed previously had been so outside of the base. Now death was much closer.  
  
Shen who was a part of Finleys team turned to see Halden cradling Duantes body, crying. He whispered a small prayer for the spirit of the fallen soldier. Shen was chinese and one of the few on this base originally from Earth. Shen was very spiritual and had fun teaching the children in the base about his spiritual beliefs. They especially enjoyed his stories which always had a moral message.  
  
Shen turned back to look down the corridor when he noticed a strangely bright patch on a wall in his night vision. It was almost bright enough to hurt his eyes. He moved his goggles from his eyes and saw what the patch was. A strange green glowing substance was on the wall. He followed it down onto the floor where spots of the substance trailed of into a corridor further down.  
  
"Sir, over here" he said motioning to Finley.  
  
Finley had a look at what Shen was pointing at but saw just a small bright patch.  
  
"Take your night vis off Sir"  
  
Finley did so and to his surprise the bright patch glowed green in the pitch black corridor. For a second he wondered whether the night vision goggles had messed with his vision.  
  
"What is that?" Dena asked. She too had taken off her goggles to look at what had taken both Shens and Finleys interest.  
  
"Keep watch Dena" Finley instructed. She turned back to cover the area, placing the goggles back over her eyes.  
  
"We must've hit Whatever or whoever killed Duante." Finley said. "If it bleeds we can kill it" he continued, thinking out loud.  
  
"Adams, this is Finley. Send a team here, we need to get Halden and the body out of here. It's Duante, he's been killed. We found what seems to be blood". Finley had seen many die in his lifetime. He had to keep it impersonal in order to think straight and not become one of them.  
  
"Confirmed, one of the sweep teams is nearby. They're on the way." Adams replied. Being a veteran of the Alien wars he too was used to these situations.  
  
"As soon as they get here my team and I are going on a hunt" 


	6. Memories

Kra'tak growled softly, feeling like a true hunter once again. He was now in full armour. Netting covered the exposed areas of skin that the armour didn't. The wrist blades were attached to his right arm.  
  
His armour was heavily damaged, covered in his green blood with chunks of it missing or heavily dented. Kra'tak did not know what had happened to him. He had been on a ship when it had malfunctioned and crash landed on this planet. After that he did not remember anything until he awoke in this lab.  
  
"You're lucky you didn't lose too much blood. We couldn't have done anything if you had" Tom said seeing Kra'tak looking over his bloody armour.  
  
Kra'tak looked at him showing that he understood.  
  
Amy just watched with interest. Another scientist stood speechless. He had been like that since Kra'tak had walked in without him being notified. Amy gave him a comforting look hoping it would relax him.  
  
The spear gun was slung over his shoulder, much like a human would hold a rifle when not in use, Tom had noticed.  
  
The disc was attached to his armour at the waist and he held his closed spear in his hand.  
  
Kra'tak had gone over his equipment thoroughly. His spear, disc, wrist blades, net launcher were all fine.  
  
His other equipment however was damaged.  
  
He placed the helmet onto his face. The helmet hissed as steam was released from the sides of the helmet as it locked into place. Kra'taks naturally red vision turned to heat vision. The scientists glowed a bright warm mixture of red and orange while the rest of the room was colder shade of green and blue.  
  
The helmet itself was heavily damaged with holes and dents as well as more of his dry green blood stained on it. Kra'tak tapped keys on his wrist computer to change vision mode with no result, it too was in need of repairs.  
  
His shoulder mounted cannon was beyond repair. It was useless so Kra'tak left it on the equipment table in the lab.  
  
Kra'tak turned to Tom and simply said "Ship"  
  
Tom and Amy exchanged glances.  
  
"Your ship is a few miles from here. We had investigated it after we'd seen a fireball crash into the jungle and found you badly damaged there" Tom replied.  
  
"Take me there" Kra'tak replied, still mimicking Toms voice.  
  
"It's too risky. The Aliens have been building up recently. The last time anyone left the base was when we found you" Tom continued.  
  
Kra'tak knew he was in no shape to go alone. He would need help. First he would need to do what repairs he could.  
  
He picked up a small metallic box from the equipment table. It opened up into a small medikit to Tom and Amys surprise. It consisted of various equipment similar to a surgeons. There were also a few viles of glowing blue liquid.  
  
Kra'tak picked up various instruments and began using them on the wrist computer.  
  
After a few minutes he tried activating his cloak again. Electricity surged through his body causing the frightened scientist to jump back. Again it stopped without activating the cloak.  
  
Tom decided to ask this time "What was that?"  
  
Kra'tak did not know the words to describe his cloaking device. He stayed silent.  
  
"He's only familiar with a little of our language" Amy said providing what she thought was the reason for Kra'taks silence, "We should teach him."  
  
"I agree", Tom replied "Important stuff first, time is a virtue we don't have" he reminded Amy.  
  
Just then a thought hit Tom like a bucket of ice dropped on his head.  
  
"Are you hungry? We haven't fed you anything since you've been here. You've taken water just as we thought you would but we haven't actually fed you anything?" Tom asked suddenly.  
  
Amy looked surprised too realising she hadn't thought about that either. When they had brought the injured Kra'tak here they had not known what to feed nor had risked feeding him. Ever since Kra'tak was awake they had been too interested in what he was and had completely forgotten about what should have been obvious.  
  
"Food" Kra'tak stated questiningly while looking at Tom through his heat vision.  
  
"You must be hungry. We'll take you to the mess hall. You can meet some civilians there too" Amy said eagerly with Toms nodding approval.  
  
As they walked towards the main laborotary entrance Amy and Tom discussed the fact that Kra'tak had survived so long without food and the loss of blood. The third scientist relaxed and tried to go back to his duty of examining the items Kra'tak had not taken with him.  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
"Status updates Sir. All systems at 100 percent. No problems reported. The crew are ready. We are currently five days from Endora Prime" Lieutenant Williams reported.  
  
Colonel Gordon Rayner rubbed his eyes and took a sip of coffee that was on his desk.  
  
"Five?" he asked in surprise.  
  
"One Endora Prime day is 12 Earth hours Sir" Williams informed the Colonel.  
  
"Alright. Carry on Williams" Colonel Rayner replied dismissing Williams.  
  
Sergeant Phoenix walked across the deck looking at the group of soldiers before him.  
  
"You all know what to do. I expect nothing but perfection. You all know the importance of the mission before us"  
  
A chorus of "Yes Sir" followed.  
  
"I want everything checked, double checked and checked again. We are five days from Endora Prime. Make sure you are rested and ready. You know what to do, get to it" he ordered.  
  
The soldiers filed out of the deck and went to their various tasks. Five days to make sure everything was ready and all equipment and more importantly soldiers were ready for the mission.  
  
Sergeant Phoenix moved off to oversee preparations on this deck. He was a veteran of the Alien wars. He'd been fighting Aliens before most of the soldiers on this ship were born. He had been explicitly chosen to lead the men on this mission by Colonel Gordon Rayner. The two of them had fought together many times over the years.  
  
They were good friends and Colonel Rayner had known that Sergeant Phoenix would be the right man for the job as soon as he was briefed on the mission. Phoenix was a determined and motivated individual who would do anything he could to destroy the alien menace.  
  
On one particular mission Rayner and Phoenix were part of a group who had been sent in to destroy an Alien Queen in her hive. The mission had gone badly, as most missions against the Aliens did, and the remnants of the group had decided to pull out.  
  
Gordon had been retreating with the rest of the group when he noticed Phoenix run past him, going the other way, holding a surface to surface missile launcher.  
  
"Get out of here" Gordon had ordered as leader of the group but Phoenix had only one thing set on his mind.  
  
The Queen had chased the group personally after they had found her. Phoenix just calmly placed himself on one knee in the middle of an Alien tunnel, missile launcher at the ready. Drones swarmed around the corner ahead of him, but Phoenix didn't move a muscle, just concentrated on one particular area.  
  
The familiar screech of the Alien Queen was followed by the whine of the missile launcher preparing to fire. A deafening blast signified the missile leaving its launcher leaving a trail of smoke. The Queen turned the corner only to be met by a missile hitting her dead in the head.  
  
Phoenix didn't wait to see the missile hit he had dropped the launcher and turned, running towards the rest of the group who were now almost at the exit to the hive.  
  
The drones behind Phoenix had halted unsure of what to do allowing him to escape.   
  
Since that day Colonel Gordon Rayner had never forgotten the courage and dedication of that one man. Now he would rely upon that same man to lead his men on the most important mission the human race had ever had. A mission which only a few would ever know about.  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
Hurst and Smith continued their watch in the tower. Smith was thinking about what Hurst had said earlier. Running it over and over in his head. Hurst was just waiting until he could tell the others.  
  
Tension was still high in the base. Especially now that a killing had occurred as Raul had informed them over the radio. Adams had thought it better not to inform others and cause panic amongst the civilians but then had decided that it was too important not to keep vital information from anyone.  
  
The soldiers around the base were a lot more alert now. More had been placed at evacuation points Gus 1 and Gus 2 to protect the civilians from this new danger. Some soldiers slept in as it was their allotted rest time and a base full of tired soldiers would not be good for anyone.  
  
"It's downtime for me" Smith said yawning "but I really don't feel like resting right now"  
  
"Don't worry I'll keep watch. You rest" Hurst replied confidently.  
  
Smith saw the confidence in Hursts eyes and decided he did need his rest. He lay down on the one bunk in the turret. This bunk was shared between the four occupants of each turret with each soldier having a scheduled time for sleep.  
  
"Wake me if anything happens"  
  
Hurst nodded his head while watching the clearing. Not much Alien activity had taken place today. They must be saving themselves for later Hurst thought. He scanned the area again through his scoped rifle.  
  
Adams held his rifle firmly watching the security monitors. He had been following Finleys team for a while now. They were in an area where the cameras and trackers hadn't been taken out. Adams had earlier watched astonished as a trail of green blood had formed and a shimmer had passed through a corridor. The shimmer had gone into a room where cameras were offline, most likely destroyed.  
  
Adams was informing and instructing Finley on what he was seeing over the monitors.  
  
Halden was slumped in a chair in the corner of the room sobbing quietly. He was covered in the blood of his friend. The other occupants in the communications room were busying themselves as best they could. Duantes body had been covered and placed in an adjacent room.  
  
"Okay guys stay close. Adams said he followed the trail into this storage room. We have no visual in there so we're going in blind." Finley said to his team.  
  
Each member of Finleys team took up position by the entrance to the storage room. 


	7. Connection

Keitaro the fourth member of Finleys team took point. He was Japanese and originally from Japan on Earth. He too was a 'freshman'. One thing that made people notice him was the fact that he carried a samurai sword on his back at all times.  
  
For luck he told people. He indeed had been lucky when it deflected a bullet that would have been fatal during a live fire training mission back on Earth.  
  
Crouching, he crept up to the door and pushed it open slightly.  
  
"Night vis on" Finley ordered seeing the darkness ahead, as he placed the goggles over his eyes, the world once again turning to green.  
  
The sword glistened reflecting the undamaged corridor lights just before Keitaro entered the storage room, swiftly followed by Finley and Shen. Dena covered their six as she too followed them in.  
  
All they could see through their night vision were stacks and stacks of supply crates, mostly empty as the supplies were used up over the years. There had been no re-supply missions for a good few months. Fortunately there had been enough to last until the rescue.  
  
Keitaro went up ahead of the rest of the team leading them through a systematic search of the room. He noticed an unnatural blur in his night vision at the end of a stack of crates. He held up his hand silently signalling that he had seen something up ahead.  
  
Dena tensed up, clutching her shotgun tightly.  
  
Keitaro looked around, thinking maybe it was a smear on his goggles, but the blur did not move with his movements. Rifle held ready he moved slowly towards it, Finley and Shen covering.  
  
Before any of them had time to react the blur shot forward towards Keitaro and he was hit in the chest by an arm he couldn't see. The force of the impact sent him flying several feet into the air and straight into Finley, knocking him over, as Keitaro lost grip of his rifle and his consciousness. The sword digging into his back as he landed hard on the cold concrete floor, the rifle sliding to a stop a dozen feet away.  
  
Shen opened up on the blur in his vision, Dena joining in as Finley scrambled back up for his rifle. The blur was still too fast, reaching Shen and knocking his weapon out of his hand.  
  
Finley looked up just in time to see Shens rifle come flying towards his face, but it was too late to react. The rifle hit him in the centre of his face stunning him as the force of the impact knocked him to the ground. He felt warm blood flowing into his mouth.  
  
Denas shotgun blasts echoed loudly throughout the storage room almost drowning out the unearthly roar of whatever was on the receiving end of the shotgun shells. The explosive rounds knocked the blur back keeping it away from Shen who was panicking while trying to get hold of his pistol. Her last round revealed, to their disbelief, what it was they couldn't see a second ago.  
  
A massive creature easily nine feet tall. Dena stopped firing, momentarily awed, as the huge creature fell backwards. The creature was covered in the green blood Shen had noticed earlier.  
  
Shen stopped trying to remove his pistol from his belt and instead looked at the creature. Finley, disoriented, shook his head to clear it and looked in the direction of the fallen creature. He pointed his rifle at the creature as he slowly got up. Shen quickly recovered his rifle and held it towards the creature.  
  
"Dena, check Keitaro." Finley ordered.  
  
She'd finished reloading her shotgun with explosive rounds and went to Keitaro, who wasn't moving. She checked his pulse, which was steady, as Finley and Shen did their best to see if the creature was dead or not.  
  
The creatures chest wasn't rising or falling indicating it wasn't breathing, and the holes ripped in its body by the shotgun blasts were a good indication. It was humanoid so Finley thought it would be a safe guess that this creature breathed like humans. They couldn't see its face though, as it was covered by some sort of mask made of metal.  
  
"What do you think?" Shen asked  
  
"Looks dead, Denas shotgun took big chunks outta this thing. We'll have to keep watch from a safe distance. The thing is fast" replied Finley, "How's Keitaro?" he asked Dena whilst still watching the creature.  
  
"Vitals are good. He's still unconscious. May have a broken spine, we can't move him. We need a medic"  
  
"Alright, Shen radio Adams let him know our situation and get a medic here"  
  
"Yes sir" Shen replied as he reached for the radio, one hand still holding the rifle towards the creature.  
  
"Understood" Adams said after Shen had reported the situation in. A medic had been part of the now completed sweep and he was sent along with a team of four to help Finleys team.  
  
"The sweep turned up nothing that means there's still one of these things out there and it's not in this building" Adams informed Finleys team over the radio.  
  
Raul informed the whole base of the current situation. Each team of soldiers, some in towers and some on civilian guard would have to report in every fifteen minutes. With the number of soldiers on the base fifteen minutes would be just enough to handle them all reporting in one after the other in a specific order.  
  
Adams looked over to Halden, who now just sat there staring blankly at nothing in particular.  
  
"Hey, need anything?" Adams asked him.  
  
Halden turned towards Adams, still with a blank expression, "No" was all he said.  
  
Raul sat back in his chair, it was almost time for his scheduled rest period. The two other communicators could take over for a while. Besides it would give the others something to do than just standing around, he thought.  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
The world had become strange. The lights and ceiling were now the floor. The tables, chairs and the people sitting in them were on the ceiling, upside down.  
  
"Look mum, I can do a handstand" Caley told his mum proudly.  
  
"Wow that's great! How did you learn to do that?" his mum, Patia, asked.  
  
"Zara taught me" he replied, as he lost his balance and landed back on his feet.  
  
"That's great. We'll have to show your dad sometime" she replied.  
  
The majority of civilians were here, at evac point Gus 1, awaiting the rescue. Evacuation point Gus 1 consisted of one large civilian building. The only building of its kind in the base.  
  
Originally the soldiers who were to be stationed at this base had been given the choice to bring their families with them. Most of the soldiers had happily brought their families here. Once those families from Earth and a few outlying colonies were brought here they knew that they would not be able to go back home ever again.  
  
Neither the Company nor the governments of Earth and the colonies were going to risk these people letting out such a secret. A secret that had been astonishingly kept so well for so long. Earth and the few outer colonies that were free of Aliens at the moment were, for the most part, none the wiser.  
  
Patia was Smiths wife. She was an average height, beautiful woman with a smile that could light up a room. Smith had used that line when they first met, back on Earth. She'd told him how cliched that sounded as many men had told her that before, but they did get together realising how much they liked each other.  
  
She had had to leave everything behind. Her family, friends, and a big part of her life. She had chosen to go because they had been so great together, the three of them. As much as she loved her family and knew she would not see them ever again her own family was too important to her and her son to let it be taken apart.  
  
Now she sat in a chair in the mess hall watching the reason she was here doing handstands, as happy as she had ever seen him be. She found it funny that it was actually safer in this base, surrounded by Aliens, then it was back home on Earth. There was no chance of being run over, robbed or any of the other myriad of crimes that were slowly destroying society bit by bit back at home.  
  
It was time for lunch and most of the civilians on the base were here in the mess hall eating and chatting to each other. Everyone was trying their best to keep their spirits up. With the news of a death and now a creature that was invisible somewhere in the base people were worried.  
  
The children however played happily, with all innocence, under the ever watchful eyes of the soldiers. Additional soldiers were stationed here now, looking for any signs of that shimmer described by those that had seen it in the communications building.  
  
Some of the civilians were in their rooms, reading, sleeping or trying to relax in the current situation.  
  
One civilian in particular was busy thinking, making a plan. A plan that the voices were telling him to make. 


	8. Foundation

Finley wiped away the blood still flowing into his mouth from his broken nose. He continued to point the rifle at the downed Predator that look, which seemed dead, with his other hand.  
  
"It can't be!" Shen said suddenly causing Finley to take a quick glance at him.  
  
"What is it?" Finley asked his team-mate.  
  
"That thing looks like that creature that was brought in a few months back. The one from the crash site"  
  
Finley looked at the Predator, this time taking in the details of its features.  
  
"It does look like the way Tom described it when it was put into quarantine" Finley replied still taking a look at the Predators various features.  
  
"Tom said it had a metallic mask, dreadlocks, over eight feet tall, and these things on its wrist. He said one of had blades like these" Finley continued, pointing the gun towards the Predators wrist blades.  
  
"Except this one's over nine feet tall" Shen said marvelling at the huge creature before them.  
  
When Kra'tak was brought in by Heather and her team he had been quarantined to ensure if Kra'tak was dangerous to humans biologically he could be contained. The cameras in the lab were in need of repairs but there was no equipment available to do that. The evacuation supplies were all that were left.  
  
This had originally worried the scientists so soldiers had been placed around the only exit to the lab in case of problems.  
  
"Inform Raul, make sure he tells Tom" Finley instructed Shen, who replied by picking up the radio from his belt.  
  
Keitaro started to move, coming out of unconsciousness slowly.  
  
"Hold still Keitaro, you may have a broken back" Dena told him.  
  
He did as instructed and stopped moving, understanding the seriousness of the situation but continued to slowly open his eyes.  
  
"I don't feel so good, like I was hit by a truck" Keitaro said, groaning in pain.  
  
"Come on now you know there are no trucks around here" Dena replied, trying to get Keitaro to think of something other then the pain.  
  
Keitaro smiled while lying still "What happened?" he asked. He coughed and fresh blood sputtered out of his mouth.  
  
"You were hit by some creature. Shen and Finley think it's another one of those things from the crash site" Dena replied as she continued to wipe blood from Keitaros mouth with some tissues.  
  
She looked at his body armour and noticed that there were two small rips going across his chest area. She couldn't see any blood but the armour was probably concealing the wounds underneath and the room was dimly lit by a few working lights as most were in need of replacing.  
  
"Relax" instructed Dena, silently hoping for the medic to get here soon.  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
The civilians were still in the mess hall waiting for Kra'tak to arrive. They had been informed over the radio by Tom that they were going there. The children were still playing their own games whilst the adults were chatting, talking about various things. The mood in the room was light, people both worried about the intruder and the eventual Alien attack. Hopefully the evacuation would be complete before that happened, some thought optimistically.  
  
Patia was talking to another woman while Caley carried on playing with the other children. The room suddenly went quite and she turned her head to see what everyone was looking at. The kids stopped playing and let out gasps of amazement, some of the adults doing the same. The soldiers were just as engrossed at the sight before them.  
  
Kra'tak stood at the entrance in all his alien glory. Tom, Amy and Heathers team of four soldiers all stood to his side, looking insignificant in comparison. The sight of Kra'tak alone was astonishing enough but the fact that he looked like he had just come from a great battle, covered in Alien blood, and damaged armour made him look all the more incredible. The helmet added to this incredible sight.  
  
Kra'tak scanned the area through his heat vision, taking in vital statistics and noticing that one human was pregnant. That human was the woman Patia had been talking to a moment earlier.  
  
Heather smiled at the reaction everyone in the room had had to Kra'taks entrance. When Heather had seen Kra'tak coming out of the lab she had started to ask him questions, but Tom had explained that it was best not to just yet. She understood and was happy enough just seeing Kra'tak with her own eyes.  
  
"Hello everyone. This is Kra'tak. Kra'tak these are civilians and our friends" Amy announced, her voice echoing in the almost silent mess hall, save for a few gasps from children asking whether they could touch him.  
  
"This is the mess hall where we eat food" Amy explained moving towards a chair followed by Kra'tak.  
  
"Sit here" she told Kra'tak.  
  
Kra'tak looked at her, although it was hard to tell exactly what he was looking at under the helmet, and stood still. His spear gun was still slung over his shoulder.  
  
Amy sat in the chair and got up again followed by Kra'tak who did the same and sat in the chair. The chair bent and creaked under his immense weight, threatening to break at any moment. Tom noticed this and hoped the chair would hold as it wouldn't be very good for the beginning of a possible alliance with a new species if it did.  
  
"I'll get some food" Tom informed the others.  
  
Heather and her team took up seats around Kra'tak and Amy sat next to him, any previous fear of him now gone.  
  
Tom went to Ande, the head chef, and asked for chicken meat, lots of it, for Kra'tak and some food for himself, Amy and the soldiers.  
  
The room was growing less silent as people started to talk again, all the while looking at Kra'tak in curiosity and amazement. The children decided to play some games that weren't as noisy as they had been playing before.  
  
"Hey Ande" Tom called out.  
  
Ande, who had still been looking at Kra'tak in wonder, snapped out of his almost hypnotic state and looked at Tom with wide eyes.  
  
"Er..What was that again?" he asked having not really paid much attention to Tom the first time.  
  
"Chicken meat, lots of it, for our new friend." Tom replied as he repeated what he had ordered the first time.  
  
A few minutes later Ande and the other chefs brought out food for the six of them. It was all freshly cooked and the aroma the food brought into the mess hall confirmed that. The chicken meat, still smoking, was put in front of Kra'tak as the others received their food.  
  
"This is chicken meat, freshly cooked" Amy informed Kra'tak.  
  
Kra'tak tapped a few keys on his wrist computer, attempting to scan the meat but his helmet could not perform that function either.  
  
"Meat" Kra'tak said.  
  
Some of the adults who were talking to others stopped and again turned towards Kra'tak. They were surprised by the fact that Kra'tak spoke in a voice almost exactly mimicking that of Toms.  
  
Kra'tak continued to look at his meal. He picked a chunk of the meat up and put it down onto his plate. Amy was watching this while the soldiers began to eat their own meals. Their rifles were placed by their sides in easy reach, as they had been taught in training.  
  
Tom wanted to observe Kra'taks behaviour too but he hadn't eaten in a long while and his stomach had been telling him that fact for a few hours.  
  
Kra'tak then moved his hands towards what the scientist could only describe as dreadlocks. Tom and Amy knew a bit more about them after seeing Kra'tak put on his helmet earlier. This time he disconnected them from his helmet, again letting out a hiss of air each time he did so.  
  
This caught the attention of the soldiers around him who watched with curiosity. Kra'tak then placed his hands around the edges of his helmet and lifted it off revealing his true self. This brought some more gasps around the room, mostly from the children.  
  
Kra'tak took another look around the room in his natural red vision and again picked up a chunk of chicken meat and placed it into his mouth. It was soon gone and another chunk took its place.  
  
Toms radio suddenly crackled to life "Tom, this is Raul, come in"  
  
He unhooked the radio from his waist and pressed the send button "Tom here, receiving"  
  
"Finleys team managed to neutralise one of the intruders. They think it's the same thing as the captured creature we brought in".  
  
"Understood. Where is it?" Tom asked  
  
"It's in a storage room, here, in the communications building" Raul replied.  
  
"I'll have to take a look at it. I'm on my way" Tom said.  
  
"Ok, but don't come alone. There's still one of these things out there and it's already killed a soldier" Raul instructed, although he knew Tom wouldn't have come alone anyway.  
  
"Amy, take Kra'tak to the library when you've finished eating. I'll try to get back as soon as possible."  
  
Tom wanted to continue to observe and communicate with Kra'tak. If one of these creatures had indeed been killed, there wasn't much that could be done. Instead a lot could be achieved with the one sitting next to him.  
  
Amy watched as the large amount of meat was quickly consumed, Kra'taks mandibles clicking constantly when he'd finished. She assumed that this meant he was satisfied. She held up a glass of water from the table and drank it, making sure that Kra'tak was watching.  
  
"It's water, it's good for you" Amy said, trying to assure Kra'tak that he should drink it, although she was unsure if he even understood what she was saying.  
  
Kra'tak picked up the glass in front of him from the table and promptly crushed it, pieces of glass and water flying everywhere.  
  
"Maybe we should use a metal cup eh?" Amy said in reply to Kra'taks slightly confused look.  
  
She got a metal cup from nearby and filled it with water.  
  
"Here, try again"  
  
Kra'tak picked the cup up, some water spilling as the metal was crushed under his great strength. He placed the cup by his mouth and started to drink from it, much of the water flowing down his mouth instead of into it. Kra'tak then placed the empty cup onto the table.  
  
Amy noticed how human he acted whenever mimicking a humans movement.  
  
She started on her own meal which was getting cold while Kra'tak replaced his helmet with some watching in curiosity again.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------  
  
Hurst was looking warily out towards the edge of the clearing when he noticed some movement in the midst of some trees. He lifted the rifle and looked through the attached scope to locate the Alien. Smiths light relaxed snoring was quite soothing he thought subconsciously whilst looking through his scope.  
  
The Alien moved again, this time he located and followed it in between the bright green trees. There were no birds here that would give away an enemies position like back on Earth.   
  
Hurst as always assumed it was an Alien. It never had been anything else, no surprises, just more Aliens. How many of them could there be he thought.  
  
However many there were the scientists had not been able to figure out where the hosts for the Aliens came from. They assumed that the Aliens were using local wildlife which explained some of the strange looking Aliens that had been found occasionally. However, no real proof had ever been found, and no one was intent on looking for it outside of the base either.  
  
Hurst aimed at the area he figured the Aliens head would be and fired a single shot, which was followed by a satisfying shower of acid blood that he viewed through the rifle scope.  
  
He could hear a few familiar shrieks, fading, as the other Aliens around moved away out of his visual range. Another shot rang out from a neighbouring turret.  
  
"What happened?" Smith asked, now awake but still lying on the bunk.  
  
Hurst had already turned to see if Smith had been woken by the sound of gunfire "Just another Alien, get some more sleep. I will wake you if anything happens" Hurst asserted.  
  
"I know, but these guns are so damn loud" Smith replied light-heartedly, "I gotta go to the toilet anyway."  
  
Smith got up from his bunk and climbed out and down the ladder to the toilet. The toilet for each turret was at its base, meaning in bad weather the soldiers would have face it to go to the toilet.  
  
Hurst let out a slight grin and turned back to continue his watch. He picked up a chocolate bar that he had put there earlier and, after unwrapping, began to happily eat it. He had to keep himself comfortable until he could get to the mess hall for some real food.  
  
Hurst was beginning to feel a little lonely, now that Smith had gone, and his other two close friends were still looking for the second intruder. 


	9. Desolation

Tom arrived at the West entrance with an escort of soldiers. The medic, Harlan, and his team were waiting for him. The escort team left to go back to their own posts as Tom and his new team shared friendly greetings.  
  
The Sun was shining brightly as midday came about and the Sun was at its peaking point. The weather in this planet was good all year around. There was never any snow and winter did not exist, nor did autumn. The day night cycle was almost the same all year around due to the planets position in relation to the sun.  
  
The length of the year itself had been decided by the Company before the base had been populated. Some found it strange that the Company had already decided on such a detail without knowing much about Endora Prime.  
  
It had been a while since Tom had seen the soldiers in this group because he spent most of his waking hours in the lab with Kra'tak. They shared friendly greetings although it was obvious that they were nervous and all of them did not have real combat experience. This did not stop them from showing their energy and eagerness to get on with their orders.  
  
The two guards at the entrance were much more wary of things now since the incident at East entrance. Soldiers were posted there, replacing the deceased Duante and the distraught Halden, who was still suffering from shock in the communications room.  
  
Adams was keeping himself busy constantly checking the security monitors for any sign of the second intruder, whilst also listening in on radio chatter too. Raul stretched and let out a loud yawn trying to wake himself up.  
  
"I need some coffee" he said to no one in particular.  
  
Matsu, another of the communications personnel, reached over, picked up the coffee jug and shook it lightly.  
  
"Empty. Gonna have to go down to three" he replied.  
  
Three meant store room three on the floor they were currently on.  
  
"Damn!" Raul replied feeling defeated.  
  
Matsu, Japanese from Earth just like Keitaro laughed lightly, having had his rest just a few hours earlier. Raul saw this and picked up an empty paper cup and threw it at him. It missed Matsu who just laughed again. Humour was a good way of dealing with most situations.  
  
Adams looked on at this and then glanced over to check on Halden, who wasn't in the chair he had been sitting in previously.  
  
"Where's Halden?" Adams asked everyone in the room.  
  
Matsus smile quickly disappeared. No one had noticed him leave the room.  
  
"Ah, Shit!" Baseer, a member of Adams team proclaimed for not having noticed Halden leaving.  
  
The last thing they needed was more problems.  
  
Adams sighed angrily, at the same time banging his fist into the metal of a security console.  
  
"Alright Baseer, Hartwell you two go get someone from one of the other teams and find Halden. Check the room with Duantes body first, he's probably in there" Adams instructed with anger in his voice.  
  
"Affirmative" the two replied.  
  
Adams rubbed his sweating forehead and sighed again. He went over to the console he had just hit and held down a glowing blue button.  
  
"Adams here, anyone seen Halden?" he asked into the radio.  
  
Each team replied with a negative, no one else had seen him. Baseer and Hartwell were leaving the room to carry out their orders.  
  
"We'll stop by three on our way back" Baseer said out loud just as he left the room.  
  
"Thanks" Raul shouted in reply to the two figures that had now left the room. He now had hope of staying awake for a while instead of falling asleep at the wrong time.  
  
Adams took another look around the room. It was a little more open and a lot less stuffy now, causing him to calm and cool down. Knight was sitting down checking his weapons thoroughly to keep himself busy. Knight carried the standard military AM-232 assault rifle with the grenade launching attachment.  
  
The AM stood for Alien Masher. Most people thought it was a corny name but it described the weapon perfectly. It was designed, planned and built from the ground up to combat the Alien threat. Years of research and countless statistics from battles won and lost against the Aliens was put into this weapon. It was more than an assault rifle. It was hope, of which there was not much left in the battles being waged across many planets and moons.  
  
The 232 stood for the number of Aliens killed by the first soldier to use the weapon in the field. That was a formidable number. Never had one soldier in a team killed so many Aliens before. The rifle was quickly put into mass production and was now standard issue, for good reason.  
  
Adams watched Knight finish checking his rifle. Knight also carried two powerful handguns, and a standard close quarter's combat knife. Something that was rarely used in battle, as you would already be dead if an Alien was that close to you.  
  
Adams then wondered briefly why there were no windows in this room, even though one of the walls was the outside of the building. Instead of windows it was just a blank wall with a few information screens on it. The grey concrete of the wall itself was in excellent condition, having been designed to last for many years.  
  
Suddenly one of the room lights began flickering off and on. Adams thought amusingly that maybe this was some sort of an ominous sign from higher powers.  
  
"Great! There goes another light" Raul exclaimed, "You know, soon, we'll have to wear night vision goggles in here."  
  
Matsu and the other communications operator were occupied with keeping the teams in radio checks.  
  
-------------------------------------------  
  
Harlan, the medic, entered the store room of the communications building with the rest of his team and Tom following closely behind. The team took up defensive positions inside and outside the room. Harlan went straight to each member of Finleys team giving them a quick visual check up, while Tom went straight to the downed Predator.  
  
As soon as Tom entered the room he knew the answer already. The smell of the burnt flesh was instantly familiar. Kra'tak had smelt much the same when he had been brought in.  
  
Each and every soldier on base was in teams now since it was vital that no one be left alone. That went for the civilians and scientists too. The base was made up mostly of soldiers so there were enough to handle the entire populace of this close-knit group of people from all over the colonised galaxy.  
  
Dena was still talking to Keitaro, keeping him as calm and still as possible. Harlan took a quick look at Keitaro and knew immediately that he was in the worst shape. His face was bruised and bloody and he was obviously finding it difficult to keep his eyes open.  
  
"How is he?" Harlan asked as he knelt down beside Dena to take a closer look at Keitaro.  
  
"I think his back's broken and it looks like he's got two large cuts across his chest but I can't tell for sure" Dena replied.  
  
"Alright. Keitaro, where do you hurt?" Harlan asked, going through standard procedure.  
  
"My head, my chest, my back, and my legs" he replied with a low, slow voice "Did I miss anything?" he added humorously. Humour was a good way of handling the pain he was feeling.  
  
"No I think you pretty much covered it all" Harlan replied with a quick smile whilst doing a check of Keitaros pulse. It was fast but that was to be expected.  
  
Tom knelt beside the creature with, showing no sign of fear at the immense creature before him.  
  
"You were right. This is definitely one of them" he informed the others, as he reached out towards it.  
  
"You know what your doing?" Finley asked watchfully.  
  
"I've studied one like it for a while now. It has a pulse like we do" Tom replied as he put knowingly placed his hand onto the creatures' neck to check its pulse.  
  
Tom shook his head, "Dead, nothing we can do about it now. Their strong and astonishing survivors, but even they can only take so much" he said glumly.  
  
"What's wrong?" Finley asked in reply to Toms tone of voice.  
  
"Well, Kra'tak seems to be friendly so far. They look like a formidable species and would be great allies. This isn't going to help" he said sadly.  
  
"It attacked us. This one sure as hell wasn't friendly" Finley replied loudly in defence of his teams actions.  
  
"I'm not saying there was any other choice" Tom replied, now in a calm and controlled voice.  
  
Shen looked at Finley questioningly, who nodded in understanding. Shen lowered his rifle and moved away from the dead Predator. The smell was becoming stronger and more unbearable, almost suffocating to Shen. The others seemed to be coping fine with the smell.  
  
Finleys radio crackled in, interrupting his and Toms slightly heated conversation. It was Matsu on the other end, asking Finleys team to report in.  
  
"This is Finley. We're okay. Harlans here, so is Tom. Any sign of Halden?" Finley asked over the radio.  
  
Tom resumed his check of the dead Predator. He noticed that this one was carrying the same weapons as Kra'tak but they seemed to be undamaged. He wondered how he would tell Kra'tak about this situation.  
  
"No sign, we've sent a search team. Over and out" Matsu replied.  
  
"There's another one of these things out there and it's invisible. It damn well isn't gonna be friendly. How are we supposed to fight something so powerful that we can't even see? Finley asked Tom grimly, not really expecting an answer.  
  
"Maybe Kra'tak can help" Tom replied, still unsure of how to handle the situation with Kra'tak.  
  
Finley knew they had been lucky with this one. A confined space combined with the power of explosive shotgun shells gave it little chance of escaping. It had, nonetheless, done much damage to a team of four, coming close to killing them all. He didn't want to think about what one in an open space would be capable of. 


	10. Attainment

"You're a fast learner" Amy said to Kra'tak, who was listening to her reading through a selection of books.  
  
Kra'tak simply replied with "meat", the word they were currently on, which he had already said earlier in the mess hall.  
  
Amy was sitting on a chair next to Kra'tak. She turned the drawing of a cooked headless chicken towards him so he could see more clearly what it was.  
  
"In fact, this is what you just ate" Amy continued.  
  
They were sat in the library, Kra'tak sitting on the floor after he had completely squashed one of the children's weak plastic chairs. The chairs were strong enough for most human adults, but Kra'tak was no human, he weighed more than twice an average 6 foot adult male would.  
  
Kra'tak had simply imitated Amy, when she had shown him how to sit on the chair in the mess hall. What he did not know was that this chair was different and it had ended with him hitting the floor with a loud thud and his immense weight vibrating the whole library floor. Kra'tak simply decided to stay sitting with the remnants of the chair removed.  
  
Heather and her team were acting as escorts now and they too were sitting around Kra'tak in the library, some on the floor, and some on plastic chairs. They were helping Kra'tak out in learning the English language but had found out quite early on that Kra'tak was learning extremely fast all by himself.  
  
The library itself took up quite a large section of a floor of the civilians building. The majority of the rest of the building were made up of living quarters which civilians and some soldiers and scientists called home.  
  
The library had a large selection of thousands of books, from the simple 'ABC' children's books all the way to advanced theory of relativity for the adults, or scientists to be more precise. There were also plenty of fiction books as well as specialist subject books.  
  
The Company had known in the planning stages that to keep the occupants of the base as happy as they could, new requests for books always had to be followed up. The books would come in as part of the regular supply ships cargo.  
  
Kra'tak now knew a large volume of the common and some not so common words. The basis of his new language was there, now it was time for him to learn the grammar, so that he could put the words he had learnt into context.  
  
Once he learnt basic grammar he would be able to communicate with others on a basic level. This would be a good start for a possible alliance.  
  
Amy was well aware that time was against them, but this was an important step to take with Kra'tak.  
  
She set the current book down and picked up a simple story book, one that was made to be read by adults to toddlers so that they could follow along and learn the beginnings of English grammar.  
  
"You're a fast learner Kra'tak. It's time to move on to grammar, and then hopefully we can hold a conversation with you pretty soon" Amy said in an excited tone.  
  
Having the first conversation with a new species. An event she could never have dreamed would ever occur. An event that would go down in untold human history forever, as the first time a human ever communicated with another species not Earth.  
  
An event that belonged in all human knowledge, but would most likely be kept away from the people of Earth if the Aliens didn't make it that far.  
  
--------------------------------------------  
  
Baseer and Hartwell walked carefully into the storeroom, their weapons ready. The first thing they saw was the bloody cloth that had been covering Duante on the floor.  
  
Halden was sitting on a stool next to Duantes body, staring blankly towards his friend.  
  
"Hey, you alright?" Baseer asked in a low voice, almost a whisper so as not to frighten Halden.  
  
Halden turned towards them and nodded slowly.  
  
"You gave us a scare there, walking off without telling anyone" Baseer continued.  
  
Haldens expression didn't change.  
  
"Come on Halden, we gotta get back to the communications room. We need to stay together" Hartwell spoke this time in a slightly angered tone.  
  
Halden whispered a few words to his friends, which Baseer and Hartwell did not hear. He then stood over his friends body and reached into one of his pockets.  
  
"What're you doing?" Baseer asked, confused at Haldens actions.  
  
"His will" Halden simply replied.  
  
Halden took the will from Duantes chest pocket, it was covered in dried blood. It would need to be re-written onto another paper if it was to survive. He carefully held the will in one hand as he covered Duantes body with the bloodied white cloth with his free hand.  
  
"Lets go" Hartwell said, softer and with more respect in his voice. He understood Haldens irresponsible actions better now.  
  
All three of them took one last look of respect at Duantes covered body and closed the door. They were heading back to the communications room. Baseer reported the situation in to Adams.  
  
"Oh, wait" Baseer said, stopping suddenly, breaking the groups thoughts.  
  
"What is it?" Hartwell asked concerned, turning towards him.  
  
Halden looked at Hartwell too, his expression changing to a slightly worried look. He had his rifle slung over his shoulder. He readied the weapon without thinking about it, his military training reflexes coming into action automatically.  
  
"Coffee" Baseer replied, "Three's just over there" he continued, pointing towards a door further down the corridor, behind them.  
  
The group of three soldiers turned and walked slowly and warily towards three, with their weapons at the ready, Halden now just as cautious as Baseer and Hartwell.  
  
------------------------------------  
  
Smith climbed back up turret 3A and sat on the bunk he had been sleeping in earlier.  
  
"What's new?" he asked Hurst, whilst closing his eyes to go back to sleep.  
  
"Adams informed us over the radio that the two invisible things are actually from the same species as that creature that was brought in a while back" Hurst replied.  
  
"The one Amy and the others have been studying?" Smith asked  
  
"Yeah that one"  
  
"Well there goes your theory, Hurst" Smith replied, eyes still closed.  
  
"Yeah, but the reality of the situation is that these things ARE invisible and can do just as much damage as an invisible Alien could, if not more", Hurst stated, "Halden went missing too but he's been found"  
  
"Where's your radio?" Hurst asked, knowing that if Smith had had it with him he would already know the current situation.  
  
"I left it on the bunk, which was a big mistake" Smith replied.  
  
He was on his own when he went down the turret to the toilet. If something had happened Smith would have had no way of knowing or getting help.  
  
Hurst simply acknowledged his team mates mistake and took another look through the sniper scope.  
  
"You took your time" Hurst said, half asking, half stating.  
  
"Yeah, well um..." Smith had a slightly embarrassed one of voice.  
  
"What is it?" Hurst now asked.  
  
"Well" Smith decided to just tell him and sat up from his bunk, "I was kinda trying to hold it as long as possible, didn't really wanna go to the toilet on my own with one of those things out there"  
  
Hurst looked away from the scope towards Smith and gave him a slight smirk.  
  
"Hey!" Smith said in reply to the look, feigning a hurt feeling in his voice.  
  
"Anyway, I don't feel sleepy now" Smith said, standing up from the bunk.  
  
The conversation was refreshing break from the still eerily silent base for Hurst. He was looking into the scope again.  
  
"Mind if I have a look" Smith asked.  
  
Hurst set the sniper rifle down and got up from his sniping position, allowing Smith to take his place. Smith adjusted some settings on the scope and then placed his right eye onto it.  
  
"How many did you get?" he asked Hurst, referring to the few rotting, burnt corpses of Aliens scattered at the line between the clearing and the forest beyond.  
  
"Four" Hurst replied  
  
"So how.."  
  
"That brings my total up to sixty-seven" Hurst replied having expected the question.  
  
"I got one-hundred and fifty seven. Still playing catch up!" Smith said light heartedly.  
  
Since the beginning there had been a competition on base as to who had the most kills. At the moment Smith was fourth place. Three of the top four with the most kills were the snipers, which was to be expected with the nature of Alien attacks so far.  
  
"Well, my count'll soon.." BANG!  
  
Hurst visibly jumped at the sound of the sniper rifle piercing the deadly silence of the base. Smith didn't notice.  
  
"A hundred and fifty eight" Smith said turning towards Hurst, with a wide smile on his face.  
  
Hurst composed himself to calm again, and cleared his throat, pretending that he hadn't been affected by the sudden gunshot.  
  
"As I was saying, my count'll soon increase" Hurst countered semi-seriously.  
  
"Yeah.." was all Smith said in reply, whilst concentrating on the scope.  
  
----------------------------------  
  
"What is your name?"  
  
"My name is Kra'tak"  
  
"Well done, you deserve a cookie!" Amy said, smiling happily.  
  
"Cookie?"  
  
"How old are you?"  
  
"I do not know"  
  
Heather and her team were still watching in fascination, having not moved much at all since they had been helping Kra'tak learn English.  
  
Kra'tak was learning a new language at a much faster rate than a fully grown adult could. It had been said that it is harder for an adult to learn a new language then a child because an adult would have a lot more set brain patterns and thinking methods, developed over the years. These would restrict an adults learning pace.  
  
A child, however, does not come with this 'excess baggage' so therefore it would be a lot easier for a child to learn a new language. Kra'tak on the other hand seemed to be unrestricted by any previous knowledge or development as he was learning at a faster rate then any human, child or adult, was ever known to learn at.  
  
Amy had been through a few of the basic story books so far. These books having been designed to build the basic English grammar skills. Amy felt that she was actually slowing Kra'tak down because she simply could not keep pace with his own abilities.  
  
She had now had the first human conversation, as basic as it was, with an alien species. Heather and the others felt lucky to be here too.  
  
Doran, the librarian, had now joined the group as they continued to watch in fascination. He was a historian, who loved Greek history and mythology. He was of Greek heritage, having been born on a colony.  
  
Amys radio crackled to life.  
  
"Tom here. How is it going Amy?"  
  
She picked up the radio from the floor next to her, where she had placed it earlier.  
  
"We're in the library with Kra'tak. He's doing very well, he's learnt the basics of English so far" she reported.  
  
"Already?" Tom sounded surprised.  
  
"You'd be surprised" Amy replied in an excited voice.  
  
"I already am. We have another situation here that'll need to be discussed with Kra'tak" Tom continued.  
  
"We'll need a few hours. At this rate he should be able to discuss it in English"  
  
"Good" Tom said.  
  
Kra'tak was holding and reading a book whilst Amy was on the radio.  
  
"Did you understand that Kra'tak?" Amy asked.  
  
"No" he replied, still mimicking Toms voice almost perfectly.  
  
Kra'tak continued to read the book he was holding. A book about an Indian chief hunting an elephant. Each page was illustrated. The picture Kra'tak was looking at seemed very familiar to him. It was a picture of an Indian chief holding a spear whilst standing underneath the legs of a giant elephant. The spear was about to be plunged into the elephants stomach.  
  
Kra'tak read the text on the page.  
  
"Indians hunted elephants for food and for sport. They were called 'soft meat' by the natives, because of the high amount of soft meat contained in the elephants belly." 


	11. Imminent

"So...who this Kra'tak?" Finley asked, watching Tom studying the dead Predator.  
  
Tom came out of his scientific concentration and looked up at Finley.  
  
"Kra'tak?" Tom asked, confused.  
  
"Yeah, you mentioned him earlier" Finley replied.  
  
"Oh! Of course" Tom exclaimed, realising that only a few people on the base knew about Kra'tak. "He's the injured creature we've been studying" Tom continued.  
  
"How'd you find out his name?" Finley questioned, his curiosity peaked.  
  
"We asked" was Tom's short and simple reply. He looked back down eager to continue his study of the Predators intact equipment. He was wearing Finley's night vision goggles while Finley was using his own standard issue torch.  
  
Finley knew that he wouldn't be getting much out of Tom right now with him being obviously encapsulated by the Predator lying dead on the cold floor before them. The thought that this was a trait, concentrating solely on one objective without wanting to think about or do anything else, most scientists he met had in common played on his mind.  
  
Harlan continued to attend to the injured Keitaro who was trying to lie as still as possible, made more difficult by the adrenalin still surging through his veins. He was still conscious.  
  
Dena held her flashlight out towards the area Harlan was working on. Her shotgun lay on the ground beside her, fully reloaded and within easy reach.  
  
To anyone looking at the room with a naked eye, even with the door open, all that could be seen were a few dimly lit figures moving behind stacks of indistinguishable storage crates. The result of the earlier fire fight only barely noticeable due to the bright green glowing blood of the Predator painting the walls, floor and ceiling of the store room around it.  
  
"OW!" Keitaro complained in a sudden, pained gasp of voice. He moved slightly because of this.  
  
"We need some more light in here dammit!" Harlan complained, as he fumbled whilst stitching the second major cut slashed across Keitaro's chest by the Predators wrist blades.  
  
Harlan preferred to use the light of Dena's torch as it was closer to natural light, and therefore better, for carrying out the tasks he needed to, to ensure Keitaro's safety.  
  
Keitaro's tough, thick body armour could not be cut by any of Harlan's tools so had to be worked around.  
  
The two deep slashes across Keitaro's chest had been bleeding quite profusely. This had to be stopped as soon as possible to prevent him from dying of blood loss, although it was hard to tell how much blood he had lost without enough light.  
  
Blood itself was in short supply. The blood bank in the medical centre was almost empty. Harlan had decided to stitch both cuts immediately and worry about his back later.  
  
"You'd think by now we'd have found a better way of stitching wounds" Harlan continued his complaining, to no one in particular. "I mean we got interstellar space travel, cloning, and all kinds of other technologies yet still use the good old needle and string" he said as he continued to stitch the wound.  
  
"Seems like technological progress stopped once we could travel large distances over space and had colonised countless other planets. After that what was there left to do?" Dena replied while keeping the concentrated beam of the torch directed wherever Harlan needed it.  
  
"More likely when we encountered the Aliens after we'd colonised one too many planets. After that a lot of resources were, and still are being, put into the war against our new enemies. Technological progress in most areas seems to have taken a back seat to this, except for in the areas that the Company deemed necessary. They forget the dying and concentrate on equipping the living with the latest and greatest, giving them false hope, and sending them unwittingly to their untimely deaths" Finley, joining the conversation, spoke with heavy emotion in his voice.  
  
He had seen countless injured friends and team mates who were left behind to die, as the sea of oncoming hordes of Aliens gave them no time to help them in any way. It was rare for there to be enough time for even a mercy shot.  
  
"Seems like the company hasn't learnt much since we've been fighting these things" Dena continued, "One failed experiment after another. They keep trying to control and study these things only for them to breakout and destroy entire research bases. Much like this base here."  
  
"With one important difference" Tom spoke, looking up from the Predator, "They built this base right."  
  
"It's about time they did get something right and we got some slack for once" Finley added, heavy emotion still evident in his voice.  
  
Keitaro was keeping still, watching Harlan as he finished up the last of the stitches.  
  
"Done. How are you feeling now?" Harlan asked, packing away the stitching kit.  
  
"Better, but that's probably because of the painkillers you gave me" he replied in a weak voice, he was losing consciousness.  
  
Harlan noticed this.  
  
"You must've lost a significant amount of blood. We need to get you to the infirmary immediately" Harlan said calmly, "We'll need to do something about your back first."  
  
"We have to carry him without moving his spine too much. Otherwise we're risking serious, permanent nerve damage if his spine is broken" Harlan informed the others.  
  
He began looking around with his own torch for something to use as a temporary stretcher. He spotted a grey metal table that reflected the beam of his torch. The same tables used throughout the base for various tasks.  
  
"Perfect" Harlan said to himself. "That'll do" he told Dena, pointing towards the object currently illuminated by his torch.  
  
The table legs were easily removed as they were designed in a way to make storage easy.  
  
"Shen, Finley we'll need your help. We're gonna lift you at the same time and slide the table underneath you. Do you understand Keitaro" Harlan asked.  
  
Keitaro mumbled a yes. He was bordering on the conscious.  
  
All four of them lifted Keitaro at the same time, who grunted at the sudden, but slight, movement. Harlan pushed the table underneath him with his free hand. Harlan decided not to remove Keitaro's sword as it seemed to be acting as a brace for his back.  
  
Tom stood up from his cramped, crouching position hopped lightly to get the blood flowing back into his legs. Pins and needles briefly shot up his legs as the blood found itself once again flowing as freely as it was supposed to.  
  
He shook his head whilst thinking to himself. Kra'tak would make a good ally and was a hopeful beginning for an alliance with a new species. However he had no idea how Kra'tak would react to this death.  
  
"Four of us will need to carry him to the infirmary" Harlan instructed.  
  
"Tom you help them carry Keitaro, I'll take point" Finley ordered, bringing up his rifle to a ready position.  
  
Tom would have objected had he been in the middle of checking over the Predator, but he would have no choice but to go. Since there was nothing more to do here he did not object and happily followed Finley's orders.  
  
"I'll need to go back to the library" Tom told Finley, whilst helping the others to pick up Keitaro.  
  
"Once we get him to the infirmary we'll take you there. We haven't got time to wait for another team to come here and take you" Finley replied.  
  
Tom agreed and the six of them moved towards the exit of the room.  
  
"I'll lock the door behind us, so nothing can get in, or out, of there" Finley told the others.  
  
The light illuminated the six figures causing those with night vision to scramble quickly to take them off before they did permanent damage to their eyes. They were too busy thinking about the events of the past day as they walked down the corridor in silence. Finley continued ahead of the rest, his goggles still with Tom.  
  
Finley looked down briefly and put two fingers to the tip of his nose to check for blood. His nose had stopped bleeding but only now was the dried blood around his mouth visible.  
  
"Your nose looks broken" Harlan commented, watching Finley.  
  
Harlan scanned the rest of the group in the bright, warming light of the corridor they were in. Finley was limping slightly but trying not to show it. Shen was alright apart from a heavily bruised and bloody hand. Dena was unscathed, the shotgun slung around her shoulder protectively.  
  
They made their way to the infirmary.  
  
Earth - A Space Transport Cargo Dock  
  
Ships of all sizes and shapes were docked in the awe inspiring dock. The sheer size of the facility was incomprehensible. Dozens of large space travelling ships were docked at any one time, with small buildings dotted in between the ships. Small gunships patrolled the docks providing the necessary security to ensure no one tried to escape after being caught carrying out something illegal.  
  
Each ship had to be thoroughly checked for wanted criminals, illegal cargo and various other illegal activities. Sometimes ships would be carrying documents, chemicals and items stolen from research bases on other planets. Bases that were owned and controlled by the Company.  
  
Some of these stolen items provided clues to the existence of Aliens. Other items gave, without a doubt, enough evidence to prove that these Aliens were real. The individuals who discovered these were quickly silenced before they could tell anyone else information that the Company did not want the people of Earth to know. It was for this reason that all space docks were controlled by them.  
  
Makalo, a cargo dock worker, was busy checking the cargo hold of a civilian transport ship. The ships occupants waited patiently inside the ship with two armoured security guards holding automatic rifles watched over them. Two more guards were at the entrance to the ship.  
  
Makalo was automatically going through the procedure etched into his brain from years of working here, doing the same thing day in, and day out. Like a robot, he often thought during his breaks.  
  
He stopped without thinking and almost reflexively backed away a few steps. Ahead of him he could see the light reflecting of an all too familiar object.  
  
Again, automatically and without thinking, he followed procedure for dealing with the object he was still staring at. He then went to one of the security guards at the entrance of the ship.  
  
Her name was Jade and she too had been working at the dock for a few years. She wore a strong, serious expression when on duty. Her square jaw added to her fierceness, helping to show those who passed through the docks that she meant business, not pleasure.  
  
Makalo and Jade knew each other well as they had worked together for most of their time here.  
  
"Jade, we've got another one" he said grimly.  
  
Her usual stoic expression changed to a slightly surprised look. The other guard looked on, paying attention to his duty to guard the entrance.  
  
Makalo gestured for her to follow him into the ship. She said a few words to the other guard stationed with her and followed Makalo in.  
  
"That makes four so far this month" Jade said, now looking slightly worried at the object in front of her.  
  
"Yeah, it's only half way through the month. It's getting worse and it's on a civilian ship" Makalo replied grimly.  
  
"Well, you know what to do. Inform the boss. Get the fire team down here. Clean it up" Jade iterated, knowing that she didn't need to.  
  
"I've informed boss. Fire team's on it's way" Makalo replied.  
  
I'll find out where the ship's been in the last few months" Jade shouted as she walked down the corridor.  
  
The fire team entered the room quickly and ready to deal with the object.  
  
Makalo and Jade were originally just another two of the workers here at the dock. That had changed during what had been a normal day. The two of them had been working on the same ship, Jade watching the entrance, Makalo checking the cargo.  
  
Makalo had discovered something odd in the cargo hold of a military ship. He had called Jade in to take a look and the two of them reported it to their boss. The boss knew exactly what the object was and had told them the procedure to follow, without informing them of what it was. Only that it was extremely dangerous and must be dealt with immediately.  
  
They were then also given two choices by their boss. The first was not to tell anybody at all about what they had seen and just been informed about. They would then be allowed to continue to work here but would unknowingly be watched closely whenever they were not working.  
  
The second choice was to be drafted into the army and sent to fight the enemy they didn't know about. In other words, sent to their deaths.  
  
Makalo looked on, deep in thought, as the fire team burnt the object in question until only a few ashes were left. They had done this many times before and would be doing it many times again in the future.  
  
The object in question was an egg.  
  
A sleek, black Alien egg. 


	12. Attachment

The huge colonial transport ship tore through the blackness of space, its engines screaming silently. It carried possibly the most important crew ever assembled for any mission in the history of the people of Earth towards their destination; Endora Prime. The saviours-to-be of mankind. Failure in this mission would mean the last mistake, in a history shaped by mistakes that humans would ever make.  
  
Colonel Gordon Raynor walked briskly along the deck, observing the crew under his command hard at work. The walk served two purposes, to clear his thoughts and check the situation first-hand, and to get the blood flowing around his body. Sitting behind a desk was not a fond activity of the Colonel's. The freshly greased metallic smell of new equipment filled the air, mixed in with the sweat of the crew men and women. A smell the Colonel knew well.  
  
The majority of the equipment on the nameless ship was brand new. The only use it had seen was during testing. This worried the Colonel. Equipment that had never been on a real battlefield was unreliable. It could all just fail to work when needed and that would be a major problem.  
  
A Private snapped a sharp salute as the Colonel walked past her. He stopped and snapped a salute back, just as sharp.  
  
"At ease, Private. Situation report." he asked.  
  
"On schedule, Sir. We're triple checking all equipment, and then checking it again. We've found two ships, both bombers, out of eighty that'll be unusable. They have electrical and mechanical faults. Nine other ships have faults that can be fixed, Sir." she replied.  
  
"We'll have to do without them. Carry on then, Private." the Colonel said and continued on his walk around the deck.  
  
Let's hope that's the only problem we have, he wished silently. As if on cue with his thoughts the large red alarm light above him blared to life, as the ship's warning system was activated. He went immediately to a nearby COM system, it being more secure than his radio, and activated it.  
  
"Report" he ordered into the com.  
  
"Sir, we have a possible Alien on deck 14 room A. Barr was complaining of chest pains, Wilkins reported it and is watching him right now."  
  
"I'm on my way" he replied.  
  
Wilkins stood by the entrance to Barr's room. He was holding his sidearm, a powerful high calibre pistol by his side, ready to use it if required.  
  
"Hey, help's on the way" Wilkins said to Barr, who was lying on his bunk clutching his chest in obvious pain.  
  
"It...burns" Barr managed to say through gritted teeth.  
  
"Ah shit! You were from the hot planet right? One of the ones we rescued on our way?" Wilkins said in shock realisation.  
  
This time Barr didn't respond. His chest did, followed by a blood curdling scream. His standard issue camouflage shirt rose as something underneath struggled to emerge. Wilkins hesitantly raised his pistol, a grim expression on his face. The shirt ripped apart followed by a fountain of Barr's blood which landed on and around bar, covering his face in blood.  
  
Tiny teeth tore through the bits and pieces of Barr's chest and shirt. The Alien began to shriek but was cut short by the direct impact of a large bullet digging into its skull, through it, and out the other side, sending its forming brain formlessly onto Barr, the previously white bed sheets and the grey metallic wall behind it.  
  
The sound of the gunshot echoed throughout the corridors around the room, as others ran towards it.  
  
Wilkins let out a slight sigh, his muscles tightened with tension at what he had just witnessed, and lowered the still smoking pistol. Barr sputtered blood out of his mouth and breathed in sharp taught breaths. He was still alive. Wilkins jumped at the sudden sound, having thought that Barr was already dead. He moved quickly to his side to check on him. Two other soldiers entered the room.  
  
"He's still alive?" one of them asked.  
  
"Yeah" Wilkins replied, now in a hypnotic like state.  
  
This was the first time he'd seen an Alien rip through a human's chest. He'd heard the many stories about how these chest busters did just that, but seeing it actually happen was a completely different experience. The fact that Barr was still alive and missing half his chest was another factor in Wilkins state.  
  
"Damn, it musta missed his heart on the way out" the other soldier observed, looking into the mess that was a mixture of the remnants of the Alien and Barrs' chest.  
  
The Alien seemed to have burst from the right side, leaving his left lung and heart mostly intact. Usually the chest busters came through the middle or more to the left ensuring the destruction of the victims' heart. How these things burst from other creatures was unknown. This was why he had survived such a horrific ordeal and was still alive, just barely.  
  
"What do we do now?" the first soldier asked.  
  
"Wait for the medic" the other replied.  
  
Wilkins began talking reassuringly to Barr. They hadn't known each other before now. Barr was from a colony that was being overrun when the ship stopped there and rescued anyone they could, on their way to Endora Prime. Now Wilkins was doing whatever he could to keep Barr alive. He held Barr's hand, which responded weakly and was growing colder. Wilkins could feel the life fading away helplessly.  
  
Barr continued to gasp sharply for air. The intake of air was followed by the coughing and gurgling of blood in his throat. Blood was flowing heavily into his throat, blocking his windpipe. Wilkins noticed this and tilted Barrs' head sideways, resulting in a rush of blood flowing out of Barrs mouth and onto the bed and floor. Barr breathed easier now, his damaged heart working overtime trying vainly to send blood through broken arteries.  
  
Wilkins began to gag at the sight and smell before him and forced himself to stop.  
  
"Medic here, clear the way!" the medic shouted as he walked into the room.  
  
The two soldiers left the room and Wilkins stayed where he was.  
  
"You too" the medic ordered Wilkins.  
  
The stone cold stare he returned to the medic told him he wasn't going anywhere. He decided to leave him and get on with his job. He immediately took notice of the Barr's situation and began picking out the remnants of the Alien out of the chest cavity with a gloved hand and throwing them hastily onto the floor. Another medic arrived who quickly began closing up the main arteries that were causing massive blood loss. A task made harder by the blood itself covering just about everything that was left inside his chest. This time Wilkins moved to the side but did not let go of Barr's hand.  
  
The two other soldiers took a careful look at the remains of the chest burster to ensure it didn't move or twitch. Satisfied it was dead they then moved out of the way as the Colonel entered the room.  
  
The colonel said nothing as he surveyed the situation. The medics worked fast and professionally as they tried their best to save the crewman. The life of each and every member of the crew was important to the Colonel. Not because he personally cared for each and every member of his crew, but because they each served a purpose as important as his own.  
  
As a colonel he made sure not to become attached to anybody on the crew. Such an attachment could potentially jeopardise a mission, especially when one of those he may have cared for was injured or killed during it. Impartiality was a requirement.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
"Do you think this is God's punishment?" Smith asked, taking a break from the rifle's scope.  
  
"What?" Hurst replied, surprised at the question.  
  
Hurst was sitting on the bunk and had been attempting, badly, to complete a cryptographic puzzle. He could never get the hang of these damn puzzles, but tried nonetheless. He put the book and pencil down and looked directly at Smith, who was lying on his back now and looking back at him.  
  
"The Aliens. You think this is some sort of punishment?" Smith repeated.  
  
"Well if you believe in God don't you usually believe in Heaven and Hell? If so then why would God punish us in this life?" Hurst answered.  
  
"Well, maybe God got decided we needed to be punished in this life too" Smith countered.  
  
"Maybe. For all we know about the Aliens they could have been made by us in the first place. We've colonised so many planets who knows what kind of experiments and research is going on out there. It was secretive enough when we only lived on Earth. Now....who knows?" Hurst said.  
  
After a moment of silent thought Hurst continued, "Besides, God doesn't need to punish us in this life. We punish ourselves enough already. Look at life before we 'discovered' the Aliens. What were we doing. Killing each other, that's what. Money and power is all most people seem to care about, even now. Controlling the masses for their own good, not for the good of the people. If anything humans are the only species to have earned the right to their extinction. We deserve to be extinct and eventually we will be the cause of our own demise. Serves us right for being the most intelligent yet the most stupid species in existence."  
  
Smith was surprised at this emotional reply from Hurst. He realised that he must've set of some memories and thoughts Hurst had so far kept to himself during his time here at the base.  
  
Smith thought through Hurst's reply spoke again, "Why do you fight for our survival then?" he asked sincerely.  
  
"Don't expect me to say I fight because there is some good in humanity. That's not why I fight. I fight because Earth was our home first. We may not belong on other planets but we belong on Earth. I will not standby and let our home be taken by a species more ruthless than our own. I will not allow my family to be killed by these Aliens. We may deserve our own destruction but these Aliens deserve it more. I'd rather leave humanity to decide whether to end itself or sort itself out, not have it decided for us." Hurst spoke powerfully.  
  
Another moment of silence passed as Smith processed what his friend had just told him.  
  
"I fight for my family too but I also believe that there is good in the human race. Good worth saving, worth fighting for." Smith replied.  
  
Hurst snorted lightly, an answer he'd heard many soldiers who had not seen actual combat yet give. Hurst hadn't been involved in any real ground combat with the Aliens so far, but he had been in many wars with 'fellow' humans. Wars fought for many different reasons and many different people, usually smartly dressed men in suits who would never hold a gun in their entire life, let alone join their own fight.  
  
Hurst had fought on various planets, in zero-g and diverse environments, including his first combat on Earth. The horrors of what the human race were capable became clear to him over the years of constant fighting. He had seen many things, even things he had done that he'd rather not have if given the choice to go back. Things he'd rather forget.  
  
He had often wondered if it was possible to have unwanted memories erased. He soon learned the value of even horrific memories in future combat, and surviving both on and off the battlefield. These memories and experiences had taught him many important lessons in life. Lessons he felt was time he passed on to somebody else. Smith was the right person. Such memory erasing technology did not exist.  
  
To Hurst, Smith was fortunate. No experience of man vs. man combat. Aliens were a different issue. They weren't the same species. All that was known was that they were ruthless in their quest for dominance. Taking over each human controlled planet one at a time. Their only purpose seemed to be the destruction of others and the reproduction of more of themselves. Did they have real intelligence on par with humans, no one could answer that with an absolute answer. Even so, some humans seemed to be just as ruthless as the Aliens.  
  
Smith still had an innocence that Hurst, and most others, had lost a long time ago. Hurst hoped that Smith would keep this innocence for his entire life, something that was highly unlikely if they survived and got off this planet.  
  
"Just remember, don't expect a hero to come riding in on a white horse to make everything better. The only person you can really trust and count on is yourself, now and always. Remember that, it could save your life in the future. It saved mine countless times, and I learnt about it the hard way." Hurst advised.  
  
Smith made direct eye contact with Hurst and nodded in complete understanding. He then turned back to the rifle, checked the magazine and put his eye back to the scope. Hurst's words still playing in his thoughts. He could only imagine what could have happened to Hurst to distrust his own kind so deeply.  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
The Colonel looked at the myriad of wires, monitors and other equipment surrounding Barr. He was now in the ships infirmary, holding on to his life.  
  
"How is he?" the Colonel asked the doctor next to him.  
  
"He's holding on. We've stopped all major bleeding. We're going to perform surgery on his heart, lung and arteries to rebuild what we can. For now, he's surviving. We've got another problem though," the doctor replied, waiting for the Colonel's acknowledgement.  
  
"What problem?"  
  
"We have to screen each and every crew member. We have over forty from the same planet as him, and anyone else could also be affected" the doctor replied gloomily.  
  
"Do it" the Colonel replied and with that he left the infirmary.  
  
So much for hoping that was the only problem, he thought to himself, as he walked towards the ships bridge. 


	13. Isolation

"I must find my friends"  
  
"Friends?"  
  
"Those who travelled with me"  
  
"I think that's what Tom wants to talk to you about. We should go see him now, you know enough English" said Amy, still sitting next to Kra'tak.  
  
Kra'tak immediately lifted his massive weight up of the floor with ease, and waited to see what Amy did. Amy got up from the spot she had been sitting in comfortably for the last few hours. She turned towards the library entrance.  
  
Heather and her team all followed them by removing themselves from their own comfortable positions and got to their feet. They readied themselves and each one of them did a quick reflexive equipment check before moving forward to continue their escort of Amy and Kra'tak.  
  
In the last few hours Kra'tak had managed, seemingly easily, to learn English as well as an average 11 year-old human. More than enough to be able to hold a coherent conversation with an adult, and to understand most of what was being said to him. He now had an intermediate knowledge of the English language. With more time Amy had hoped to let him continue to learn at his own rapid pace so that he could raise his language skill up to the same as theirs, but Tom had insisted on seeing Kra'tak as soon as possible.  
  
The group now moved as one towards the exit. Some of the kids stared with a blank expression of awe at Kra'tak while others were thinking about running up to him just so they could touch him to see what an alien felt like. Such an action would be impossible with the only other alien species know of.  
  
Doran, the librarian went back to his duty behind his desk. Dozen's of different thoughts coming into his mind about the last few hours and how amazing it was to have been a part of such an experience.  
  
The few adults around continued to play with the children, reading books, and setting out tasks for the children.  
  
The group of six walked past the two guards at the library entrance. They felt the thundering vibration of Kra'tak's footsteps as they faded the further the group moved away.  
  
----------------------------------------------  
  
Adam's wiped sweat from his forehead. He stood up from his crouched position and walked around in what little room was left to get the blood flowing freely again. The others in the room took quick glances towards him as he did so.  
  
"What now?" Raul asked the question on everyone's mind.  
  
"All we can do is wait" Adam's replied gloomily, now once again looking intently at the security monitors for a sign of something, anything at all.  
  
Baseer, Hartwell, Halden and Knight were leaning against whatever was behind them, wall or consoles. Raul and the other two communications personnel were being kept busy with the constant radio checks.  
  
The combined body heat of the eight people in a room meant to accommodate four at most caused the heat in the room to rise considerably. This combined with the heat from the various electronic equipment made the room almost unbearably hot.  
  
Sweat trickled off Raul's forehead onto a console in front of him. He quickly wiped it away with a cloth, to ensure that the water didn't damage anything. He continued to sip his coffee, entirely grateful for every warm drop that was in the cup he held before him. He felt as if this was the best coffee he had ever had, ignoring the fact that he was already hot, but was extremely tired.  
  
"Pour yourselves some guys" he told the others.  
  
Knight was the only one to move towards the coffee, the others not interested. He silently poured himself a warm cup of swirling dark brown liquid and promptly drank it all in one go.  
  
"You're quiet today" Baseer commented.  
  
Knight turned towards him, his worried eyes telling Baseer his answer. Although Baseer himself was inexperienced in combat, as was Hartwell and Halden, they seemed to be doing well not to show it. Knight, on the other hand, was finding it difficult to control his feelings, much less hide them from everyone else. Soldiers dealt with the problems before them in their own ways, Baseer thought, after deciding not to pursue his comment further.  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
Keitaro was lying in a bed. A heart monitor beeped rhythmically. That was the only sound in the room. There had been a few children in the room earlier for a check up. The sounds of the children playing and laughing had helped the unconscious Keitaro on a sub conscious level to feel better.  
  
He sat up lightning fast when he realised where he now was. The first thing he did was to look over himself in a slight panic for any tubes or wires going into him. He utterly hated needles and to his relief found that he had nothing 'connected' to him in that way, only the heart monitor connected to his finger.  
  
"You do know that such a movement would be very bad had your back been broken" Harlan commented.  
  
This was instantly met by Keitaro then consciously thinking about his back and moving it around to make sure it was fine. He then turned to his left and saw Harlan picking up some charts, smiling ever so slightly.  
  
"You winding me up doc?" Keitaro asked Harlan who was now pretending to put his full focus on checking the charts.  
  
"So what's the verdict?" Keitaro asked realising his previous question was going to go ignored.  
  
"You're fine. Looks like that sword of yours saved you again" Harlan replied, this time looking up at Keitaro.  
  
"It did?" Keitaro asked as he moved himself towards the side of the hospital bed with a grunt at the effort.  
  
"It must've acted like a brace for you spine when you hit the floor. It took the brunt of the heavy impact leaving your spine unhurt, for the most part," Harlan said with a bigger smile on his face.  
  
"See. I told ya!" Keitaro replied cheerfully, referring to the many times others had light heartedly mocked him for wearing a sword almost all the time.  
  
He did, after all, take it off to have a wash, although some believed that he even slept with the sword on regardless of how uncomfortable such an act would be.  
  
Keitaro's expression changed quickly.  
  
"Hold on, didn't you say I lost a lotta blood back there?" he asked, worriedly.  
  
"You did" Harlan replied matter of factly.  
  
"Then where's the tube?" Keitaro asked anxiously.  
  
"You've already had it in. I know how much you hate needles so I had it removed as soon as possible" Harlan answered.  
  
"Thanks. I thought I was gonna have to have a tube in now" Keitaro said, relieved.  
  
"Well I gotta go, duty calls. You'll feel a little sore when the painkillers wear of, nothing major. You should be back to full capacity in a few hours" Harlan informed him.  
  
"Just one more thing doc, help me get outta this bed" Keitaro requested.  
  
"Sure" Harlan said as he put the clipboard back down.  
  
With another grunting effort and a helpful hand from Harlan, Keitaro managed to stand on his own two legs and regain his balance.  
  
"Any news of the other one of those things?" Keitaro inquired, as he took a few shaky steps around the bed.  
  
"No, no sign of it yet." Harlan replied, subconsciously placing one hand over the butt of his AM-232 assault rifle.  
  
"I'll go find the others" Keitaro told Harlan and they each went towards a different door.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------  
  
Outside, the day was growing darker, quickly. The bright Sun settling into the horizon ready to come up the next day and repeat its sequence dutifully.  
  
"I don't think I'd ever have gotten used to this" one of Heather's team members thought out loud, referring to the short days on Endora Prime, "back on my colony the days were 34 Earth hours long.  
  
"You think you'll ever get used to him" Heather asked, nodding her head towards the giant figure of Kra'tak, who was following Amy.  
  
The other soldier let out a grunt of laughter and shook his head.  
  
"So what's the plan, Doc?" Heather asked Amy.  
  
"We'll take him to the medicentre. Tom's waiting there for us, he needs to discuss something with Kra'tak" Amy replied.  
  
Kra'tak briefly looked towards Amy as she said this, without breaking his stride. The escort of soldiers where constantly looking around, on elevated alertness, now that they knew just what kind of threat they were dealing with.  
  
The twilight of the day growing darker made now the most difficult time to see. The base floodlights would be on in a few minutes but for now the soldiers had to make do. Night vision was not an option as it was still to bright for that. Their state of alertness didn't help them see in such light well enough to spot what they needed to see.  
  
Back at the civilians building, some children were still playing while others slept. Same went for the adults too, some busying themselves with various activities while others slept either to get some rest or just to pass the time. The soldiers assigned to the building continued the patrols of their designated areas.  
  
There were two covering the entrance to the library, they were stationary, with no need to patrol the area they were guarding. Suddenly a fluorescent light tube at one end of the corridor flicked off followed as sparks simultaneously fell to the floor and disappeared.  
  
"What the..?" one of them thought out loud.  
  
"Joe, you see that?" he asked the other.  
  
"Yeah, you think it fused?" Joe replied, sounding wary, as he turned to look in the same direction.  
  
"No way" he stated firmly, unhooking the radio from his waist.  
  
"Cover my six" he told Joe, "this place let's you walk round in circles."  
  
"Base, come in" he spoke into the radio.  
  
Adams hit the reply button almost immediately. The others listened to the radio closely.  
  
"Acknowledged, who is this, what is your situation?" Adams asked quickly and firmly.  
  
"This is Tyler and Joe at the library entrance" the whispered reply came in, "a light down the corridor just went out, didn't look like it fused."  
  
"Stay alert, and stay put. More men are on the way"  
  
"Understood" came the calm quite reply.  
  
The radio clicked off.  
  
Adams immediately radioed the teams nearest to the library and instructed Raul to do the same. Within a minute half a dozen teams of soldiers would be converging on the building as well as those soldiers already inside the building too.  
  
Adams checked his rifle, readied it and moved towards the doorway.  
  
"Halden and Hartwell, you two stay here. Baseer, Knight come with me" Adams ordered.  
  
They left the room promptly and made their way towards the library at a rapid pace.  
  
"Damn right stay put, I'm not going anywhere" Joe whispered nervously.  
  
"Quiet, concentrate" Tyler ordered, his gun's safety off.  
  
The light on the other side of the corridor went out. Joe was already covering that area. Tyler turned quickly.  
  
"Shit" Joe said, louder this time.  
  
"Keep quiet" Tyler ordered again, trying to see any sign of movement in the corridor ahead.  
  
Both of them were focused on the same area, Tyler temporarily forgetting to cover his own back.  
  
The first indication Tyler had that something was terribly wrong was when he looked down towards his mid section. Protruding through his body armour was the end of a large spear. The second indication he had that something was terribly wrong was the amount of blood and his own guts that followed the spears journey out of his body and onto the area around him, covering Joe too.  
  
He couldn't feel any pain, nor hear anything. He could only watch in shock and confusion. Unable to do anything about his predicament. He seemed to be just an observer in his own body. He looked back up to see Joe turning, saying something, something he couldn't hear. Only the exaggerated movement of Joe's lips as he brought up his rifle towards something behind Tyler.  
  
It was then that Tyler realised what had just happened, but it was too late to do anything. He could see his rifle laying on the ground before him, covered in his own blood and guts. His limp hands refused to respond to his commands. He could still see Joe bringing up his rifle, in what seemed like slow motion, and firing it. The bright flash of the muzzle next to him, the sound of the rifle unleashing its assault on its target non-existent to him.  
  
The last indication he had that something was terribly wrong were the twin blades that protruded out of his chest exactly where his heart was, or rather where his heart had been, thus ending his life.  
  
By the time Joe fired the rifle Tyler's body had been brought up to protect the creature from the hail of bullets, which now tore into and through Tyler's dead body. Joe momentarily stopped, distraught at having just shot at the body of his team mate. This split second stop was more than enough time for the creature to jam it's twin blades into Joe's neck before he had time to bring himself together. Joe's rifle fell to the floor too, landing next to Tyler's blood soaked one, with the loud clang of metal on metal.  
  
The Predator decloaked completely, satisfied with it's small battle. It then moved purposefully into the library.  
  
Children, who had previously been having fun, now sat terrified and motionless, staring at the huge Predator, covered in human blood and guts. This Predator was bigger than Kra'tak. It walked past the children and adults, completely ignoring them after a quick scan of the group. The Predator moved towards Doran, who like the children stood like a statue, completely shocked. He had been with a similar creature before, a friendly one. And now stood before him was a similar one that had just killed without compunction the two soldiers set to guard the library area. Two humans.  
  
The Predator brought it's masked face closer to Doran's. He could feel the power of the creature in front of him.  
  
"Kra'tak" the Predator said.  
  
Doran was speechless, even if he wanted to he couldn't speak. The Predator looked over him just as two soldiers entered the library. It fully cloaked itself and moved quickly towards the library entrance.  
  
The soldiers had no time to react as they were both easily knocked a few feet in the air into a stand of books.  
  
The Predator knew that Kra'tak had been here earlier. It would now have to escape the humans once again in order to pursue it's objective.  
  
A few of the soldier's had heard the noise of automatic fire and were close to the library now. Many more soldiers were on the way. This was the best opportunity they had of stopping the second of these devastating creatures before it could cause more harm than the soldiers knew it was capable of. 


	14. Preservation

Finley and his remaining team consisting of Shen and Dena were in the medicentre when they received the radio call from Adams.

"Tom, we'll leave you here. Kra'tak's on the way with Heathers' team," Finley informed.

"I know. Get going." Tom replied.

Finley's broken nose was bandaged, and the others had been checked over and treated as necessary. Dena finished checking her ammunition as Shen readied himself. They both moved towards the exit in a hurry. Finley moved off only to be stopped by Tom's hand on his shoulder. Finley turned towards him with a questioning look upon his face.

"Try and keep this one alive. For our sake." Tom said sincerely.

Finley understood the tone of his voice, nodded, and gave a reassuring expression that told Tom he would do everything he could to keep it alive. A task they both knew would be highly unlikely to be successful.

Finley left as Tom sat in the medicentre and watched some of the staff go about their tasks. Just as soon as Finley left the room Keitaro entered from the opposite door. He spotted Tom and walked unsteadily over to him, using various objects as support to keep the spinning room from making him fall down.

"Hey Tom." Keitaro called out.

"How are you feeling?" Tom asked.

"Doc said I'll be fine in a couple of hours." Keitaro replied. He looked around the room, "Where's Finley and the others?"

"The other creature was just located in the library. They just left on. They're on their way there now." Tom replied.

"Hope they kill that damn thing." Keitaro said spitefully.

Tom didn't reply. He simply looked on in deep thought.

"What's on your mind?" Keitaro asked inquisitively.

"Too much," was Tom's answer.

Keitaro left him to his thoughts and went to talk to one of the doctors.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Two separate teams of soldiers turned around opposite corners into the darkened hallway with the library entrance.

"Hold your fire!" each team leader yelled immediately.

Last thing needed now was crossfire. The soldiers lowered their guns slightly at the order whilst looking towards the library entrance. They all saw a blur shoot out of the entrance and towards one of the groups.

The group that the Predator was moving towards raised their guns and opened fire just as the group at the opposite end dived as one around the corner and out of the line of fire. Bullets pock marked the area the group had occupied moments before.

The Predator reached the group, not unscathed, and knocked three of them over with one big swing of its powerful arm. Their bodies were sent into the air, two of them slamming into the concrete wall. Helmets and weapons went in separate directions banging and clanging onto the floor. The fourth soldier began panicking as his three team mates lay unconscious nearby.

The Predator yanked the AM-232 rifle out of his hands and smashed it against the wall. The soldier cowered in panic and fear as the cloaked Predator moved past him and further into the corridor.

Another group of soldiers turned into the corridor that the Predator was now in but they were too late. The blur moved straight past them and headed in the direction they just came from. The group turned and ran to follow it.

"Situation." Adams called over the radio.

One of the soldiers on the chasing group answered.

"We're chasing it. It's heading towards the east stairs really fast," he spoke into the radio, breathing heavily.

"We'll cut it off." Adams replied over the radio.

Adams, Baseer and Knight had run full speed from the communications building all the way to the civilians building, almost on the opposite side of the base. They slowed as they reached the door to the civilians building.

Covering each other instinctively they entered the building quickly and purposefully. Adams had a good idea of where the creature would be going in order to exit the building from the east stairwell. The group moved as one towards that area.

The chasing group of soldiers were doing their best to follow the Predator but they lost it as it entered the stairwell long before they managed to reach them. Civilians came out of their rooms to see what was going on.

"Stay inside!" a soldier ordered as he ran past.

Meanwhile, the two teams who were at the library entrance were attending to themselves. Two of them were still unconscious while the third had woken up by himself. The panicked soldier was sitting with his back against a wall, still in a state of shock.

The team that had entered at the opposite end of that corridor split up. Two entered the library whilst the other two attended to the other team.

The two soldiers entering the library had to carefully step over what was left of Tyler and Joe. Blood and guts covered the immediate area around the entrance where they had been killed. The smell was already unmanageable. Nothing could be done for them. They moved on into the library to find that all inside were uninjured but in a state of shock, which was not surprising.

"Doran what happened?" Stephan asked him.

He just stared blankly back at her. She grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

"Listen to me Doran. What happened?" she asked again.

"I.I..It was just like the other one," he replied.

"The other one?" she asked confused.

"K.K..Kra'tak," Doran replied "It was l..l..looking for Kra'tak."

She gave the other soldier a questioning look to which he just shrugged. They went over to the children who were huddled close to the adults. They were all in shock but the adults were doing their best to calm the children down. Stephan decided to help calm them down and keep everyone away from the entrance.

She activated her radio and contacted the other members of the team.

"We need to get the entrance cleaned up ASAP" she informed them, "We can't leave that there for anyone to see, it'll make matters even worse."

"Understood, we'll be on it once we get these guys sorted out," came the reply over the radio.

"Adams, it's going up the stairs, not down," a soldier in the chasing group reported over the radio.

"Damn!" Adams said to himself, clicking his radio in acknowledgment.

"Let's move it, that stairwell leads to the roof," he told his group.

They picked up pace and ran towards the East stairs. Once there they could hear the chasing team up ahead. The building consisted of twelve floors, the chasing group were already on the sixth. They ran up the stairs, two at a time, trying to catch up with the now tiring chasing group.

The Predator made it to the top with the chasing group falling behind. They couldn't keep up pace with it. It tried to push open the door only to find it was locked shut. It then simply kicked the door open, smashing the lock in the process. The door itself was not designed to withstand anything, it was simply a means to access the roof.

"It's made it to the roof!" one of the chasing group shouted in defeat.

They reached the roof and exited cautiously, weapons ready. They looked all around the roof for any signs of the creature. They all spotted the blood on the floor it ended abruptly near one side of the roof.

"Blood?" one of them asked.

"Most likely but I don't see it anywhere," another replied.

They scanned the roof again. Adams reached the roof as Baseer and Knight followed behind, both breathing and sweating heavily. Adams was in a better condition then the others.

"Anything?" Adams asked.

"Looks like blood but no sign of the creature"

"Dammit!" Adams exclaimed. "Alright, see if you can spot anything from up here. Look for a blood trail or something. We're going to check around the building. Find anything let me know," he instructed, motioning towards his radio for clarification.

The other group moved to the edges of the roof that gave a good overlook of the base. Some of them had activated their night vision scopes when they entered the roof. Others used the base lights to try and spot anything. The green blood on the roof was glowing in the darkness of the night.  
"What the heck is that?!" one of the soldiers exclaimed shockingly.

Adams turned back from the roof door and went to see what it was that the soldier was pointing towards.

"You see it?" another asked.

"Not the one we were chasing BUT this is definitely the same type. And Amy's walking with it," he replied in a mixture of shock and excitement.

Adams used his binoculars to look at the Predator.

"That must be what Tom was talking about," Adams said dryly as he looked over the Predator from a distance. "It's big, bigger than us and that's Heathers' team with it, they look relaxed."

Adams activated his radio on Amy's frequency, while still watching the group.

"Amy, Adams here."

He saw Amy pick up her radio from her hip and activate it.

"Adams, what is it?" she asked in a slightly cheery voice.

Adams noticed the tone of her voice, "We lost the creature. It killed two more of us."

He saw Amy stop. The group stopped too and so did Kra'tak. Adams watched as Kra'tak looked down towards Amy. She put a hand on his shoulder and said something he couldn't make out from this distance. The base lights illuminated them all, giving Kra'tak an even eerier look.

Adams then had an idea.

"Amy, any chance we can get your friend to help us?" Adams asked.

He watched again as Amy talked to the Predator. To Adams she seemed very comfortable talking to it, as if she was just talking to another person. Adams view was quite different. To him these things were only killers and extremely dangerous foes so far. Seeing Amy being friendly with that one made Adams wonder why the other two were killing his people. A few reasons came to mind, reasons which seemed to make sense. The radio brought Adams out of his thoughts.

"His name is Kra'tak," Amy informed him, "He said he can't do much because his equipment is too damaged. He can't communicate with the other one, nor can he use his equipment to find him. The base is too big."

"Not good news," Adams responded, "Alright we'll have to make do. Be careful out there."

Adams watched as Amy and the group resumed their walk to the medicentre. He could see that Heather and her team were very alert to their surroundings. He turned towards Baseer and Knight. He placed a hand on their shoulder and looked them straight in the eye.

"Alright, it's time to go chasing again. We have to stop this one now." Adams said.

The look he had given them was to reassure them, and it worked. Adams noticed their eyes light up slightly. He then promptly took point and moved briskly to the roof entrance.

"Let's go."

And with that Baseer and Knight took up position behind him and left the roof of the building. They left the other group to continue searching for any signs of the Predator from the roof.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Report?" Colonel Rayner asked the doctor he had been speaking to earlier.

"Three infected so far," he replied grimly, "All from the same planet as Barr."

"Where are they now?" Colonel asked.

"In quarantine."

"How many have been scanned so far?" the Colonel enquired.

"Eight point four percent of the population of this ship," the Doctor answered. "It's taking a while to scan each person. We just don't have the right equipment..."

"We're equipped for an information retrieval mission. The people are expendable," the Colonel cut in, his voice completely devoid of emotion just as his face was devoid of any expression.

The doctor looked at the Colonel and contemplated his answer.

"Where are the quarantined?" the Colonel asked before the doctor could say anything.

"In a store room. Number three three eight" the doctor replied, his voice showing signs of strain from the constant work of scanning people.

Each scanning was a short process but lack of equipment meant only a few could be scanned at any one time. The amount of people on the ship meant the doctor had many hours without sleep ahead of him.

"Are the escort ships being checked too?" the Colonel further enquired.

"A few of them, yes. The others don't have the right equipment. We'll have to do those by transferring them to another ship once everyone else has been scanned." the doctor said, wiping sweat off of his forehead with a white cloth.

The Colonel watched as another doctor gave a member of the crew the all clear and the crew member smiled and left the room. He then left the room himself as the doctor returned to his duties.

Colonel Gordon Rayner wondered what to do as he walked towards the quarantine area. Two fully armoured and armed guards stood by the door. They looked creepy with their entire faces covered, almost inhuman. The Colonel could see inside the room through a small window as he walked down the corridor towards it.

As he got closer to the room he could hear the occupants of the room shouting and banging on the door. The guards did not move, they just stood at their designated posts, ignoring the actions of those inside the room.

"You're just going to let us die?!" one of those inside the room shouted, as she pounded on the metal door.

"You can't just leave us here!" another said.

The Colonel stopped a few feet from the door and saw that those inside were becoming frenzied. This was no surprise. He looked the woman in the eyes for a few seconds. She stopped shouting and gave the Colonel a terrified look.

"Open the door." 


	15. Alliance

Finley met up with Adams outside east entrance to the civilians building. 

"What's the situation?" Finley asked.

Adams, taking notice of the bandage on Finley's nose and the beat up Shen, replied, "It got away."

"Now what?" Finley asked a slight annoyed expression on his face.

"We're going to look for it. Kra'tak said he can't help, not without his equipment," Adams answered, "How are you guys doing, you look a little beat up?" he asked.

Finley smiled slightly, "We're okay. Could've been a heckuva' lot worse."

"Alright, you take the west side of the building. Let us know if you spot anything, especially that glowing blood." Adams instructed as he moved off.

"Got it." Finley affirmed and moved off with his own team.

* * *

Tom was still sitting, thinking when Amy and the group entered the medicentre. He looked up, let out a heavy sigh, and then stood up. Amy walked in first, overshadowed by Kra'tak who barely fit through the doorway as he walked directly behind Amy. It was as if a great shadow was following the scientist, the lights outside silhouetting Kra'tak's figure. 

Keitaro, who had been talking to a doctor further back in the room, almost lost his balance and fell when he saw Kra'tak walk in. He looked on in fear and awe, mixed with the feelings from his last encounter with a similar being. He'd already faced one of these things and had seen what it was capable of.

Tom, however, did not hesitate at all and walked straight to Kra'tak to meet him halfway. Heather and her team took up positions inside and outside the entrance to the medicentre, joining the two guards already there. They shared friendly greetings as they walked past, the guards having watched Kra'tak approach from a distance.

"Hello Kra'tak. I hear you have been making great progress." Tom half stated, half questioned.

"Yes, thank you Amy." Kra'tak replied, bowing his head slightly in Amy's direction.

She let out a small smile at Kra'tak in turn, turned to Tom and saw the grim expression on his face.

"Kra'tak we have an important matter to discuss. Do you understand?" Tom asked him.

Kra'tak looked at Tom with his masked face for a few seemingly long seconds, "I understand."

"Those others like you out there, are they your friends?" Tom asked.

"Yes." Kra'tak answered without a pause.

"Do you know why they are attacking and killing our people?"

"Yes. They look for me. You were my captors."

Both Amy and Tom picked up on the fact that Kra'tak had just used the word 'were' and not 'are'. An important difference.

"They have come to free you from us. I understand." Tom said as he looked seemingly through Kra'tak.

He stayed that way for a little while before looking back at Kra'tak.

"I'm sorry but we were forced to defend ourselves against them and one of your friends was slain when he attacked us. Do you understand?" Tom asked again.

Kra'tak's posture did not change at all. He continued standing as he had been since he entered the medicentre.

"I understand. The others will not." he replied, mimicking Tom's voice even better than before.

To the guards situated outside, listening in on the conversation, it seemed as if Tom was having a discussion with himself.

"We know that there is one more of your friends on the base. We'd like to stop any more of us being killed, including your friend. Could you stop the other from continuing to attack us?" Tom asked bluntly, a slight weight seemingly lifted from his shoulders now.

"They are seeking me. When they find me I will explain. I will ensure that no more are harmed then."

Tom let out a slight sigh of relief and visibly relaxed. Amy stood next to Kra'tak listening to the conversation intently. Kra'tak turned to look towards Amy.

"The elder may decide to leave if the ship is working." Kra'tak informed her, "If the elder is alive," he added.

"That's why I think that it would be best if you were taken to see your friend's body." Tom said sombrely, "I also think it best that you leave too. The Aliens will be attacking soon and we'll be evacuating most of the base."

"The attack is probably also the reason the Aliens left you alone for the day that you were out there," Amy said, joining in on the conversation. "They're increasing in numbers and aren't using many of themselves to attack the base anymore."

"Yeah, the trek there and back was considerably easy. We only came into contact with a few of them, or we wouldn't have been able to bring you back with us." Heather added.

Kra'tak turned to face the group, "I must find the others. I cannot allow them to kill any more of my friends and we must decide our own course of action now." Kra'tak said.

The group looked up at Kra'tak in mild surprise.

"Friends. I hope we can all be friends with each other." Tom said.

"It is not a simple matter. We have hunted your kind before. You have proven to have some formidable opponents throughout time." Kra'tak said, sounding respectful in Tom's voice, "We also hunt the creatures you speak of. We respect some of your kind, but many we do not."

"If you don't mind me asking," Tom said cautiously, "Where were you going before your ship crashed here?"

"We were going to a planet on which we have hunted those creatures for many centuries," Kra'tak replied, "We also discovered that you're kind had set up a base since the last hunt there, unaware of the creatures."

"That doesn't sound good." Heather spoke up.

"No, it doesn't," Tom agreed. "Heather," he called, turning in her direction, "We'll take Kra'tak to the communications building. Then we'll decide what to do from there."

Just then Heather's radio burst into life. It was the communications operators calling for a team check in. She replied and turned her attention back to Tom and Kra'tak.

"We're ready," she said.

"I'll come too." Amy added.

The group now moved out together, just as when they had travelled to the medicentre a little while ago. This time with Tom as well.

Keitaro had continued to watch from the back of the room. The doctor he was talking to watching with the same fascination. They both began to relax as they watched the group leave the room.

"I think I'd like my sword back now," Keitaro managed to say, looking at the doctor.

"It's with your equipment in the locker room," the doctor replied.

Keitaro brought himself together again and walked off awkwardly towards the locker room.

"Number thirty two," the doctor called out to him.

* * *

Stephan looked on as the drying blood was quickly cleared away by a couple of soldiers from the same team. The children and adults were being kept inside the library and were beginning to recover from their shock. They would be allowed to leave once the sight at the front entrance was cleared away. The bodies of Joe and Tyler had already been taken away, to be cremated when the current threat was over. 

The sickening smell hung strong in the hallway. Stephan grabbed a soldiers arm as he was walking past to obtain his attention.

"What're we going to do about that smell?" she asked.

"Somebody's on the way with a spray that'll get rid of it," the soldier answered.

She let go off him and he continued on his way. At the far end of the corridor the group that had been completely incapacitated, in a matter of a few seconds, were being attended to by a medic.

They were all conscious now and had picked their helmets and weapons back up from the floor where they had scattered. The soldier whose rifle had been smashed by the Predator was being calmed by one of his team mates.

Stephan continued to look on, astonished by the speed with which the Predator had decimated an entire group of fully armed and aware soldiers. Lost in her own thoughts, the smell became less noticeable.

In a different part of the building a few children occupied their time by playing games. They were sent here when most of the civilians left the mess hall a few hours earlier. Caley, Zara and a couple of others were currently playing a game of 'I spy'.

Caley's mum, Smith's wife, Patia, was sleeping on the only bed in the room. She had been supervising them and had felt it was safe enough to go to sleep. The guards outside would make sure there were no problems.

The sounds of the distant gunfire a little while ago had barely made it to the room. None of the children had noticed it. The guards outside had been informed about the situation over the radio.

"This is boring," one of the children complained.

"I agree," Zara, the eldest of them, replied.

"Let's have a look at the cages!" Caley suggested excitedly.

"But we'll get caught if we leave the building," the fourth child said whiningly.

"No we won't. I think I know how to get to where the cages are without being caught," Zara said, mischief in her voice.

"Lets go now..." the third child started to speak.

"NO!" Zara cut him off, "It's too dangerous," she said with finality.

There were a few disappointed sighs from them. They were already bored of the games they had been playing so far. Sitting in one room for so long was difficult for them to bear. The four of them were eager to resume their mindless running about, as they had before the lock down situation they now faced.

Even though it was nearing the middle of the night none of them were particularly tired. Having had an excessive amount of sleep in the last few weeks due to there being even less for them to do then was normal. Now the children were just beginning to feel irritable.

"Well, we have to wait until breakfast before we can even leave this room," Caley said, "What should we do until then?"

"We'll discuss how we're going to see the cages without being found out," Zara replied.

* * *

"You find anything?" Finley asked. 

"No. We circled the building and the area around it. No blood, no signs." Adams replied feeling defeated, "It's as if it just disappeared."

"Neither did we, what do we do now?" Finley said.

"We'll leave those guys up there on the roof for now." Adams said pointing to the top of the civilian building. "Our best bet is Kra'tak, lets just hope Amy and the others can get him to do something to help us out."

"Well, I'll take these two with me to go check on Hurst and Smith. It's been a while, we'll see how they're doing," Finley said looking at Shen and Dena in turn.

"Agreed. We'll head back to the communications building and keep an eye on things from there." Adams said.

They were about to move off when Dena put a hand on Adams shoulder. He turned towards her in response with a questioning expression.

"Hey Adams, got a question for you. Back at the communications building you said you needed six guys," Dena said in a slightly teasing tone, "Why'd you say guys?"

Adams smirked in understanding. He feigned innocence and put his hands up mockingly, "I was under pressure, had to think fast."

Baseer and Knight, both looking calmer now were standing at the ready in covering position around Adams. Finley and his team moved off as Adams' team did the same. They walked towards their destinations, fully alert and aware to their surroundings. Adams unhooked his radio as he led his team to inform the group on the roof of the situation.

The soldier on the roof gave Adams an acknowledgement. He went to hook the radio back onto his belt when a spine-chilling roar came from within the bases perimeter. He nearly lost his balance and fell off the edge of the roof he was standing on, only to be saved by a hand from another soldier. His radio, unwillingly dropped, fell straight off the side of the civilians building to shatter into pieces on the ground far below.

"Anyone locate that sound?" came the question on the other soldiers' radios.

A lot of negatives came over the radio in reply.

"The sound was too loud. It reverberated all over the place," a voice came over the radio.

Adams and Finley both stopped at the sound, listened to the ensuing radio chatter, and then resumed the journey to their destinations at a more hurried pace.

* * *

"You're right." Colonel Rayner said simply, throwing off the argument she was ready to unload on him. 

The Colonel was sitting with the three infected personnel. The woman who was ready to argue now sitting, still with a look of terror, and the two other men. Both of whom had kept quiet so far.

"You can't do this to us," the woman repeated with a trembling voice.

"Karla..." the Colonel trailed off in thought.

She looked at him in a slightly confused way.

The Colonel looked up again, "You're right, we can't treat you like this. You are all members of my crew," he looked at each of them in turn. "What do you suggest we do?"

They all looked at him with the obvious answer visible in the expressions on each of their faces. An answer the Colonel had not wanted. He'd thought long and hard on his walk over to the room he was now in. He had come to only one real conclusion to the problem. A conclusion he did not like.

"It's not quick nor is it painless," the Colonel reminded them needlessly, pain obvious in his normally controlled voice.

"We know," Karla said looking at the other two, both looking back at her, "But we can't spare the medical equipment. We've thought through it, we've had plenty of time. This ship is equipped for a military mission, not a medical one. You'll need the medical equipment to keep your people alive, not to help them die."

The Colonel looked eye to eye straight at Karla as she said this. She was right, the painful truth echoing in his thoughts.

"Do you all agree to this?" the Colonel asked for confirmation.

"We do." Karla answered followed by confirmations from the other two.

"However, if there are other infected personnel, they may not." the Colonel thought aloud.

Now he was facing another problem. He could either wait until all personnel had been scanned, by which time some of those infected would die painfully as the Aliens within released themselves. The other option was to allow them a choice and take immediate action after that choice had been made. There was also the additional problem of there not being much of the medical equipment needed to help those, who chose to, to die peacefully. A problem which didn't make sense, there should've been a lot more of the required medical equipment on the Colonel's ship as standard.

"I'm going to talk to a few people," the colonel said grimly, his expression again emotionless. "I will be back with an answer soon."

And with that the Colonel left the three alone again, his boots clanking on the metal walkway, as he went on his way to decide the fate of the three sitting in their makeshift cell.


	16. Endeavour

Kra'tak had heard the spine-chilling roar from his friend clearly. He knew that it meant that the other was tending to and repairing wounds sustained from encounters with the human soldiers. He attempted to locate its origin using one of a myriad of functions built into his helmet only to find that it, too, was damaged and therefore inoperable. Kra'tak grew slightly frustrated at this and looked at the group of humans he was walking with. 

The group consisted of the scientists Tom and Amy, the soldiers in Heather's team and himself. They were walking briskly towards the communications building. As he gazed momentarily at the group he spotted three heat signatures, some distance away, approaching in their direction. He also noticed that none of the group had yet spotted the three figures. A few seconds later he was about to inform them, when Heather put her hand up, silently signalling for the group to come to a stop, then signalling for the group to watch and cover the direction she was pointing in.

"Who's that?" one of Heather's soldiers asked.

The group could only discern three silhouettes, the darkness camouflaging outlines. The figures were approaching quickly in their direction.

"I'm not sure," Heather answered tentatively, as her team took up covering and firing positions around Amy, Tom and Kra'tak.

The floodlighting used in the base was such that there were supposed to be no areas of absolute darkness. With supplies running low that situation had changed in the past couple of months as the base slowly fell into a state of disrepair. The floodlights and security cameras, among other things, had had to be neglected.

Heather's group watched in anticipation, palms becoming sweaty, hearts beating faster. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that Kra'tak now stood holding his spear readily. He was crouched in an obvious combat stance, she noted.

The figures now slowed down, as if in response to Heather and the groups' reactions. They continued to move cautiously towards the group. Then they stopped completely. The one in the lead moved forward whilst the other two stayed back. The lead figure moved toward a working floodlight, his face and machine gun becoming clear to Heather and the rest.

They lowered their weapons, breathed sighs of relief and returned to escort positions around Amy, Tom and Kra'tak. The figure now almost upon them was that of Adams, who was moving briskly again, followed by Baseer and Knight to Adams' left and right flanks respectively.

"Lack of communication?" Heather asked with a raised eyebrow, the beginnings of a smirk showing on her face.

"Well, at least you didn't shoot first and ask questions later," Adams replied semi-seriously.

"Guess you caught us on a good day," Heather countered, again jokingly, "Where are on your way to?" her tone turning more serious now.

"Communications. Check on things up there," Adams answered, pointing in the general direction of the communications buildings main room.

The room Raul, Hartwell, Halden, Matsu and the third communications operator currently occupied.

"We're taking Kra'tak to see his late friend," Amy explained delicately, "Kra'tak said he can help stop his other friend if he can get into contact with him."

"Is this friend trying to find him?" Adams asked curiously.

"He is."

For a good while Adams was at a loss, and so were Baseer and Knight who exchanged puzzle glances with each other. Adams had been looking straight at Tom, whose mouth didn't move, even though the answer had come from him. He then looked towards Kra'tak and gestured questioningly towards both Amy and Tom, who were standing next to the massive alien. They nodded in reply to the unspoken question.

Adams thought for a few seconds, "Why don't you call out to him?" he asked Kra'tak directly this time.

"He is intent on killing those he believes are still my captors. His honour demands it," Kra'tak began, "He may think my calls are a trap and so will not be fooled. Now that your kind have killed one of us it has made things more difficult. I must communicate directly with him."

"Well, can't you at least try. There must be some way of getting his attention," Adams urged. Then a thought struck him, "You say he won't be fooled. Well it's still at least worth a try isn't it?" he asked Kra'tak. "Just stand alone," Adams explained, "Call out to him and we'll see what happens."

"Why the heck didn't we think of trying that?" Private Hale, part of Heather's team, asked, sounding surprised.

"It seems we've been missing a lot of obvious things recently," Tom said in a neutral voice, at the same time rubbing his eyes subconsciously.

"Well with what's been going on it's no surprise really," another soldier added.

"Some of us have gone too long without adequate sleep," Hale commented, nodding his head towards Tom and Amy, both of whom returned understanding expressions.

Both of whom did indeed look extremely tired. Ever since the discovery of Kra'tak the two scientists had spent countless hours studying him and his equipment as much as they could. It was simply too good of an opportunity to pass up. A new alien race, one that humans may be able to communicate with, unlike the ruthless, single-minded, Aliens. The possibilities and discoveries that had run through their minds had kept them awake even when they had tried to sleep. Eleven weeks of this situation had left its toll on them, more so on Amy and Tom then the other scientists.

"I will attempt it." Kra'tak finally decided, unintentionally cutting off the groups' discussion.

"What should we do?" Heather asked Tom.

He looked at Kra'tak and thought over the question, "Over there.". Tom moved off in the direction he was pointing.

"Leave your weapons on the ground," Kra'tak instructed the now larger group. "It is dishonourable to attack a unarmed opponent."

Amy noted the fact that Kra'tak's English was continually improving over what they had learnt together in their short time at the library. He seemed to be adding more and more words to his vocabulary, as well as using them correctly too.

Heather and her team exchanged nervous glances with Adams, Baseer and Knight. She noted that Knight was looking a little pale, even from the base lighting.

"We'll have to trust him," Tom made clear, amongst the silent fears some of the others were sharing.

"Keep them in easy reach," Adams supplemented, slinging off his own rifle.

Tom unhooked his radio, deciding it would be best to inform the base of Kra'tak's goal.

The group collectively began removing their main weapon, the pistol sidearm and the standard issue military knife, which most wore out of habit, more than actual use. If you were resorting to your knife in a fight with an Alien, save for a miracle, you were already dead. Each of them laid the various instruments of death or liberation, depending on an individual's viewpoint, at their feet. They now stood with their arms to the side, watching Kra'tak intently as well as looking warily all around.

* * *

In turret 3A Smith listened to Raul relay Tom's information over the radio's general frequency. 

"Risky," he remarked to himself.

Hurst was sleeping contently, snoring almost imperceptibly. Smith, on the other hand, couldn't sleep even when he'd try to go back to sleep earlier. As much as he attempted to control it, his edginess was getting the better of him. He wanted to do something, anything, to help out other than sit here alone, now that his only company was dreaming whatever it was Hurst dreamt about._ A giant bunny rabbit named frank_, Smith thought amusingly to himself. His duty was here though, keeping watch over Turret 3A's sector of the outer perimeter. A duty just as important as locating the second creature.

The roar earlier had unsettled him, as he'd been pouring all of his concentration into the scope, trying to ignore the edgy nervousness whittling away at him. The sudden spine-chilling roar had caused him to jump in broken concentration, cursing under his breath. Hurst had woken briefly, heard the ensuing radio chatter, and then gone straight back to sleep without uttering a single word to Smith.

A familiar whirr broke Smith's current line of thought and once again his concentration, making him jump in the process. "Dammit!" he exclaimed, looking to his left in annoyance, through a windowless gap in the turret. He spotted the blinking red light on top of the nearest autogun as it turned back to a constant green, indicating that the gun had begun tracking a target but lost it by the time Smith looked over.

He place his right eye comfortably back to the rifle's scope and began to scan his designated area for any signs of disturbance. Another welcome distraction from his mixed emotions and feelings, his concentration returning fully to the perimeter outside.

A clanking sound behind him made him jump again. "Son of a.." he began as the rifle jolted in his hands grip and he almost involuntarily pulled the trigger, now pointing at the ceiling. He turned around, rifle following, to see a hand grasp the top of the ladder by the entrance. The familiar scarred face of Finley's, together with the newly acquired bandage on his nose, popped up and over, radiating a smile which quickly faded when he saw the tense Smith aiming at him with a very powerful gun.

Smith sighed heavily, letting out a sharp breath whilst muttering curses under his breath, flicked the safety on and put the rifle down.

"What'd I do?" Finley asked innocently.

"It seems," Smith started infuriated, "Every time I'm concentrating on the perimeter, helping protect this base, as you may or may not realise," he continued, pointing at the rifle, "Something happens which results in me being jumping in shock. And that," he looked away from Finley's now grinning face, "is not very nice."

"Oh, come now," Finley said in a mock motherly tone, "It's okay to be scared."

Smith was about to turn back to continue looking outside when Shen and Dena climbed into the turret too.

"A little crowded in here," Shen commented, glancing briefly at the completely relaxed Hurst. "What's his secret?" he asked flicking a thumb towards Hurst.

"Years of fighting," Finley answered dryly.

Shen pondered the comment and then moved to sit on a little stool. "There goes that idea."

"So" Smith began carefully, "What was it like?"

"What? Fighting that thing?" Shen asked back.

"Being, not thing," Finley cut in.

"Well, it wasn't fun," Shen answered wryly. "He was huge, I assume it was a he. Huge and powerful. Knocked Keitaro straight across the store room. He was fast too, hit us before we could react," Shen recalled.

"If it wasn't for old shotty here," Dena patted the shotgun lovingly, "And me far enough away to have time to react, we'd have all been taken out. Then...who knows what would've happened," she finished grimly.

Smith spent a minute thinking their answers over. He wondered how it would've felt like to face that being like Finley and his team had done, a cold shiver ran down his spine. The autogun whirred again and this time all four of them turned to look at it and the direction in which it was now facing.

"What is it?" Shen asked curiously.

"Found it!" Smith replied, looking through the scope, "Alien, wanna shot?"

"Yeah!" Shen replied enthusiastically.

He took the rifle and put his left eye to the scope as Smith moved into a spotting position.

"Aim a little higher. Shoot when you're ready," Smith instructed.

Shen zeroed in on the night black Alien. Reflected light from the planet's two moons glinting off of its smooth crest, cheating it of its natural camouflage. He fired and saw the bullet rip through the area that had been occupied by the Alien's head just a split second earlier. He perked his head up in surprise and disappointment. The Alien fast disappeared into the cover of the trees, plants brushed away in its wake.

Shen put the rifle down and let Smith take over, "Did you see how fast it react, he asked in astonishment, "It was as if it somehow knew exactly when I was going to pull the trigger."

"Eerie," Dena commented.

"At least you didn't-"

"Who's firing?" the radio cut Finley off.

He recognised the voice, "Adams, Finley here. Turret 3A fired."

"Well, tell Smith to use a silencer. Now is not a good time to be firing loudly."

Finley heard the great concern in Adams' voice, "Will do. Sorry."

"You heard him," Finley nodded to the group.

Smith responded by removing the silencer from its shelf and fixing it onto the end of the rifle.

Adams put the radio back on his belt, now slightly angry. The timing was bad. The call he'd just made went out over the general frequency so, hopefully he thought, no one else would make the same mistake.

Kra'tak looked over the group, satisfied that they were all disarmed. He then disconnected his mask and removed it, placing the damaged multi-functional equipment onto the ground beside himself. He placed his spear, too, on the ground. Mandibles clicking, he turned away from the group and look towards the black, cloudless, sky.


	17. Realisation

They stood, staring at the video monitor, wide-eyed in their disbelief.

Makalo and Jade were standing in their boss's office, along with a few others. They all stood still, sharing the stunned silence, necks craned up towards the monitor as it relayed a horrific truth.

"_The bodies were discovered last night by a dock worker. They were heavily mutilated, with multiple parallel long and deep gashes. Security footage, taken close to the scene of the crimes, appeared today showing an unidentifiable black animal moving between buildings. Experts say that whatever it was, it was extremely fast with black skin and like nothing they know of. The video footage has been thoroughly examined by video experts and has only led to confirmation that what you are seeing is all too real. Speculation is rife._"

The boss, Powell, hit the mute button and turned towards his workers, "We believe the footage was leaked by one our dock workers."

"Who?" one of the others asked, as Jade and Makalo turned towards Powell.

"Doesn't matter," he replied, "what does, is that they're out there now. That means we failed. Now we must go on the hunt, find it and kill it."

Jade looked at Makalo. He returned her stern expression with a slight nod. She turned back towards Powell, "Where was this footage taken?"

"One of our outer buildings, section F. We're scanning all footage in that area for previous sightings."

"Boss," Jade looked expressionless, "we want to help find this thing."

He looked past Jade, in thought, and made his decision. "I've read both your records and I agree. You and Makalo work well together. You can both join the rest of the assembled team. They meet for briefing in thirty minutes in B3. Get to it."

With that, Jade and Makalo left the others in the room to the task of re-arranging dock operations. Powell began issuing orders immediately. A few minutes later, after his workers had left the room, he made a phone call. A phone call to his superiors at the Company.

Jade and Makalo worked their way through the docks. B3 was one of the smaller warehouses on the dock, used as a smaller machine shop to repair damaged single-seat ships. Usually the metallic clanging and robotic whirring of automated machines drowned out normal conversation. Now, however, an ominous silence, that was almost as loud, took its place.

There were six others gathered there. All in full assault gear. Jade wore full armour too, her faceplate currently open, revealing her terse, square jawed face. She had a classic beauty about her, hidden behind a difficult to read expression. Makalo, on the other hand, was wearing his normal grimy and dirt covered coveralls.

As they approached the group they were met with the steely expressions of experienced men. Jade being the only women there. The group were huddled over a map of section F. The appointed leader of the group, whose face was hidden behind a helmet, spoke up as he looked each member of the group in the eyes, silently assessing each of them.

"Briefing begins now."

* * *

Amy watched Kra'tak in complete fascination. Not a hint of worry in her emotions. Tom seemed the same. Some of the others, however, didn't look quite so calm.

Kra'tak was looking towards the sky. They watched as he took in a huge breath, his chest visibly expanding greatly, and let out a blood-curdling roar. A roar that took quite a few soldiers by surprise. The sheer intensity of it threatened to burst ear drums.

Then quiet.

Kra'tak looked around, and so did the others in the group. Nothing. No reply of any sort. Kra'tak waited a few seconds and let out another call, just as intense as the first one. No reply again.

Hale spoke up when Kra'tak had quieted, "Maybe he's ri-"

The roar this time came from behind the direction most of the group were facing. It was so close that most of them jumped in fright, including Amy and Tom. The group turned collectively towards the direction of the new sound. Adams spotted Knight, standing to Amy's right, reaching for his weapon, a state of panic in his body language.

"KNIGHT! DON'T PICK THAT-" he begun to shout.

He was cut off by the sight of Private Hale, who had been standing to Amy's left, being launched three feet into the air. The fact that he wasn't wearing a helmet flashed briefly through Adams mind, quickly replaced by the fact that they were all defenceless right now.

Back in turret 3A Smith was pointing his rifle towards the group being attacked. "Should I take the shot?" he asked hurriedly.

"No, they're too close," Finley replied instantly. "You can't even see it."

Knight was still bringing his weapon up, only for him too to be launched high into the air. The audible crack of his jaw bone caused Amy to wince as she instinctively put her arms up to cover her face in a feeble attempt to protect herself. The blurred arm of a camouflaged Predator was coming towards her at an incredible speed. Tom moved as fast as he could to try to take the impact. He closed his eyes as the blur came towards his head, bracing himself as best he could. A few seconds later, still standing, Tom opened his eyes in surprise.

A completely visible hand was holding the invisible one a mere few centimetres away from Tom's head. Amy moved her arms down cautiously and saw Kra'tak now standing next to her, his arm muscles tensed.

A series of loud clicks, growls and grunts followed as Amy and the others watched with a mixture of shock and fascination, frozen in place. The 'conversation' between the unmasked Kra'tak and the invisible other continued for a good thirty seconds, all the while both Predators arms locked in a tense stand-off, the sheer power of them radiating through the air.

Hale had survived his flight through the air and was watching the scene from where he'd landed. Knight was motionless on the floor a few feet away, likely unconscious, with a definite broken jaw.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing," Smith whispered, with Finley and the others staring at the scene from afar in stunned silence. Hurst had finally awoken to the Predators mighty roars.

Eventually the tension in their arms was released as the invisible Predator backed down and de-cloaked. It stood there silently, arms at its sides, mask hiding it's face with no hint of readying another attack on the humans.

"He understands that you helped me. You are not his enemy now." Kra'tak informed them.

"Good," Tom broke the silence between them all. "That's good."

"You may pick up your weapons." Kra'tak said.

The group collectively sighed, tension slowly releasing as they began picking up their weapons.

Heather looked over at Hale, "Hey, you alright?"

Hale gave a thumbs up as he picked himself up off the floor to go gather his gear. "I'm fine. Knights gonna need a medic though."

She went over to Knights unconscious body, crouched down and found a steady pulse.

"I heard his jaw break," Amy said, looking away from the two Predators.

"We'll get him to medical," Heather replied. "Do you still need an escort?"

"Tom, do we still need an escort?" Amy relayed.

He looked over but before he could reply Kra'tak spoke. "We do not. We will not harm our friends."

Tom nodded his head in agreement and turned back towards the two towering Predators, finally ready to speak to them both.

"That settles that. Hale, Callum, Gustav, help me take him to the infirmary." Heather ordered her team.

"This is Tol'din. We are of the same clan." Kra'tak spoke to Tom.

"What happens now?" Tom asked. "Do you leave for your ship?"

In reply, Kra'tak began conversing with Tol'din.

"Our ship cannot be repaired. Do you have a ship here?" Kra'tak asked.

"No, I'm afraid not," Tom replied. "We have a rescue due any day now, you can stay until then."

"Can we have one ship?" Kra'tak asked.

Tom sighed heavily, realisation dawning. "I would be happy to. However, our rescue is coming from the Company. I'm certain they would choose to hold you captive in order to study you. Or kill you."

Tol'din did not respond to Tom's words, having understood none of them.

"We will not allow that," came the response Tom had expected.

Kra'tak again conversed with Tol'din as Amy, Adams and Baseer came up to join them.

"What's the plan, doc?" Adams asked Tom.

"They're discussing it now. Their ship is damaged beyond repair. I did suggest waiting for rescue but realise that the Company won't let them go their own way."

"Too true," Adams replied.

The alien conversation went on for a good few minutes.

* * *

Back at the infirmary, Heather and her team were just bringing in Knight.

Keitaro, now wearing his combat gear along with weapons and sword firmly on his back, was sitting on the edge of a bed, hungrily eating a chocolate bar. An unpeeled banana lay on the tray next to him.

He continued eating as he watched Knight being brought in and put onto a table. Harlan rushed into the room along with another doctor.

"May have broken his jaw, hit his head hard on the ground," Heather informed him.

"Help me take him to the x-ray room," Harlan asked. "We'll see how bad it is. What happened exactly?"

"Kra'taks rescuer hit him in the face," Heather replied, as she and Hale helped Harlan.

Together they wheeled Knight into the back. Callum and Gustav stayed behind and walked up to Keitaro.

"Quite a day," Gustav remarked.

Keitaro nodded in agreement and offered some of his chocolate to them. Both happily took a piece each.

"Did you see it?" Keitaro asked.

"Yup," Callum replied. "Scary enough just watching the two of them holding each other off. Can't imagine what it must've been like taking one of them head on."

"There wasn't enough time to be anything. As big as they are, they move pretty damn fast." Keitaro said. "What happened with the other one?"

"Looks like he's not going to attack us again," this time Gustav spoke. "That Kray tak, or whatever his name, if it even is a he, said we're friends now."

"I guess they'll be going on their way soon then," Keitaro said, now peeling open the banana.

"Guess so." Callum agreed as he made himself more comfortable, still feeling the effects of the adrenaline from earlier.

* * *

After a long while, Tom and the others watching, Kra'tak finally turned to them to speak.

"Tol' din says we can use a ship that he found when looking for me."

The group collectively perked up, paying full attention to the conversation now.

"Other ship?" Tom asked, confused. "You have another ship here?"

"No, the ship is human. It is not of ours," Kra'tak replied.

"A human ship?" Tom said, still puzzled. "Is he sure?"

"Yes. When looking for me, Tol'din and the other found buildings like yours. This one had no human life and there was a great battle," Kra'tak replied.

Tom, Amy, Adams and Baseer exchanged questioning glances.

"Another base? Does that mean..? Did they know..?" Tom blurted out the questions rapidly to himself.

"That can't be," this time Amy spoke up in a disbelieving tone.

"You did not know this?" questioned Kra'tak.

"No...no, there shouldn't be another base here." Tom managed to answer.

"Son of a..." Adams exclaimed quietly.

Kra'tak quickly spoke to Tol'din. "Tol'din found a human ship outside. When searching for me. He says you can make this ship work. I agree."

"Can you show us where this base is?" Tom asked, finally regaining some composure.

He was beginning to feel anger at being betrayed by the company. He wanted to know more about this place.

"Do you have a world map?" Kra'tak asked, having remembered Amy showing him a world map of Earth in one of the children's books.

"Yes, we can show you a map of a large part of the surrounding area," Tom replied. "We can show you back in the lab."

"We'll come with," Adams stated, rather than asked.

"Yes. We'll need to discuss this together," Tom agreed.

"I guess we'll be getting back to our posts now," Shen and Dena said as they made their exit out of Turret 3A.

"Get some rest," Finley told them as they left.

Finley, Smith and Hurst continued to watch as Tom and the rest moved off together. They could only guess what the conversation had been about, having watched the groups body language from a distance.

"What do you think?" Smith asked, turning to face them both.

"No idea. Guess they'll let us know soon enough," Finley said, as he touched his bandaged nose, feeling a shooting pain but not letting it show in his expression.

"Don't mess with that," Hurst said.

"I know," Finley replied.

"What now?" Hurst asked.

"Game of cards?" Smith asked.

"Sure."


	18. Chapter 18

Tom and the group entered the laboratory. Tom immediately went to one of the terminals and began inputting commands. Adams and the others took up positions nearby. This was the first time since bringing in Kra'tak that anyone other than the scientists had entered the lab.

Adams looked across the room at the 'bed' Kra'tak had been restrained to and briefly wondered whether it would have held if Kra'tak had chosen to break out of it. He doubted it.

Tom pulled up an overhead map on the screen in front of them.

"This is a map of the area made for us when we first came here," Tom informed the others. "A large area was scanned by ship."

Kra'tak and Tol'din looked on as Tom scrolled through different areas on the map. It was a satellite view, showing the greens of the forest and the greys of the buildings.

"This is where we are right now," Tom pointed at an area showing the base almost fully constructed.

He started zooming out, waiting for a response.

"Stop," Kra'tak said, in response to Tol'din speaking up.

Tol'din then took a step forward and pointed at a specific area on the map.

"The buildings are here," Kra'tak relayed.

The map showed nothing except more lush forest. There were no signs of human habitation in the entire area. Not even a small clearing to make way for a single building.

"There's nothing there," Adams said.

"It is there," Kra'tak confirmed.

Tol'din pointed at another area on the map, this one about a third of the distance away.

"He says this is where I crashed. Our ship broke in two and we were far from each other."

Adams now moved closer. "Looks like the Company didn't just forget to tell us. They changed the map to hide it."

Tom nodded in solemn agreement. "Yes."

"What now?" Amy asked.

"How long do you think it'll take to get there?" Tom asked Adams.

"It took four hours for Heathers team to get to and bring Kra'tak back." Adams replied. "This'll probably take about 6 hours one way depending on how dense the forest is further out."

"It'd have to be at least a day and a half trip. Safer to travel during the day and then travel back the next day," Tom continued Adams train of thought.

"I agree," Adams said.

"Short days don't help," Baseer chimed in.

"Is it worth the risk?" Amy asked, concerned. "What if the attack happens while you're out there?"

"If there's a ship there then we at least have a backup instead of just waiting for rescue," Adams replied.

"I need equipment from our ship," Kra'tak added.

"It would also be pertinent to know exactly what the purpose of this place was," Tom added. "There may be valuable intel or equipment there."

"Slim chance, but who knows," Adams responded. He gestured towards Kra'tak and Tol'din "Besides, it'd be worth it if we could get them a ship."

They each gave looks of agreement to one another.

"Well," Tom said thoughtfully, arms folded, "our second field trip on this planet."

The group didn't need to state what they were all thinking: helping Kra'tak to return home and not become property of the Company would stand them on good ground. It could help build a possible alliance with powerful allies against a common enemy.

"So...who goes?" Baseer asked.

"Me. I have the field experience. I recommend we take Heather and her team, since they've already been to the ship," Adams went through a mental checklist "We'll need someone who can pilot, and a scientist."

"What about a medic?" Amy asked.

"And a mechanic to fix the ship?" Baseer added.

"We'll need all our medics here," this time Tom replied. "Arthur should go. He's our best bet at fixing whatever vehicles you find there."

"Agreed. We all have good first aid skills, so we'll get by with that," Adams added.

"We will need to take our fallen clan mate with us," Kra'tak said.

"Okay," Adams replied. "There's just enough room to fit that many in the APC."

Adams turned to Amy, "You should come with us."

"I...I'm not sure. I've never been out there," she replied.

"You should go, you've gotten to know Kra'tak better than the rest of us," Tom insisted. "It'd be good for future relations with them."

"I'm not gonna go with them!" Amy quickly exclaimed.

"No, I didn't mean it like that," Tom said. "I meant, you seeing them off if we manage to get them a ship."

"Ok. That makes sense," Amy responded after a short delay.

"Besides, as head scientist the rescue team are going to want me here along with the information and materials that they collect," Tom added. "And I have some ideas I want to share with the leader of that ship."

Kra'tak spoke up. "Helping humans will be difficult. Your kind have many that do not seek friendship, only destruction."

"Like the Company..." Adams said grimly.

"At least we can do this one good thing for your kind," Tom responded.

"Oh," Baseer spoke up. "What about radio coverage that far out?"

"Good point, I'll check with communications," Adams said, picking up his radio.

Matsu answered, Raul finally having some rest after an eventful day.

"Matsu, Tom is sending you a map. Can you tell us how far out radio coverage would go?" Adams said.

"Got it, let me see."

There was a pause.

"It'd get halfway at best. It'll cover your first marker, but your second marker is way too far. What's out there?" Matsu queried.

"Thanks. We'll tell you shortly," Adams replied, keeping hold of his radio.

Tom looked at Adams, "We'll have to hope that there's usable equipment out there that will allow you to communicate with us."

"What're the chances of the place still having power?" Amy asked.

"It's possible. I know in the past they've designed places to last for a long time. They do this so that they can recover lost intelligence, research and materials long after abandoning a place." Tom replied.

"They learnt from experience," Adams included.

Adams and Tom then radioed a message via the general frequency to inform everyone about this new revelation and the plan to travel out in the morning. Heather responded to confirm that her team would be ready to go and that she would go check on the APC to ensure it was ready.

When Adams asked if anyone could fly a ship, to his surprise, only Smith replied.

"Yeah, I thought just being a sniper would've been too one dimensional so I took up a pilot licence," Smith told Adams over the radio.

"You should stay here, you have family here. I can't ask you to risk leaving when we have an impending attack," Adams replied.

"I know," Smith said, "but Toms right about helping Kra'tak. This is important."

"Are you sure about this?" Adams asked again.

"I'll discuss it with Patia and Caley tonight," Smith replied.

"Ok, let me know as soon as you do," Adams said.

"Will do," the radio clicked off.

Next Adams radioed Arthur the mechanic.

"_Makes sense, I'll go,"_ Arthur replied.

"One more thing," Adams added, "can you fly a ship?"

"_Sorry, I should be able fix them but I have no flight experience at all,"_

Damn, Adams thought as he looked over at the others who were in quiet contemplation. Kra'tak and Tol'din were busy conversing with each other.

* * *

Heather knocked on the door of the garage with the butt of her rifle. The loud clanging brought Arthur, the mechanic, out of his little office.

"You here about the APC?" he asked.

Heather nodded.

"Need to make sure it's up and running, ready for first light in the morning," she continued.

"Same one as last time?" Arthur asked.

"Yup."

"It's been running fine since I cleaned it up after you went out last time. I'll check it over the next couple of hours and make sure it's ready by morning," he confirmed.

She gestured towards his hands. "How come you have such clean hands for a mechanic?"

"I moisturise," he replied and threw her a quick smile before turning and walking towards the APC. "I'll get to it."

"You do that," Heather said as she too turned to leave.

It was time for her and the rest of the group due to head out in the morning to get some rest. They had a busy couple of days ahead of them.

* * *

It was an hour before dawn as Adams walked in to the mess hall along with Amy, Smith, Kra'tak and Tol'din. Heather and her team were already gathered there, talking quietly amongst themselves. Andre, the head chef had decided make them a special meal before they set out on their journey.

"This almost feels like some sort of last supper," Private Gustav remarked.

"Let's hope it's not," Adams said dryly, taking a seat.

"What's for breakfast?" Smith asked.

"Omelettes, pancakes, toast, sausages," Andre shouted over the counter. "Get it while it's hot."

"Damn, Andre. You sure you ain't gonna run out of food if you feed us like this?" Private Callum half asked, half stated.

"We've got enough," Andres answered straight forwardly.

Adams looked at Smith. "How did it go last night?"

"Better than expected. She understands how important this could be. She's also just as pissed off as the rest of us about this other place." Smith replied, getting back up in order to grab some food from the counter.

"And you're sure about going?" Adams continued.

Smith stopped, "Yeah, I thought about it all night. Didn't get much sleep. I'm the only licensed pilot so that means two things: either I can help the rescue effort if we find working ships, or I can teach Kra'tak to fly the ship so that he can go back to his people and not become Company property."

Adams watched intently as Smith moved off toward Andre. After a few moments of contemplation his stomach growled as if to remind him to get some food too.

Arthur entered the canteen and called to Heather.

"The APC is ready. Ammo is fully stocked," he reported, walking over to her.

Heather turned from her meal, "Thanks." She looked at his hands and mockingly added, "What a surprise! Nice clean hands as usual!"

Arthur looked away, slightly embarrassed.

"Join us, have some food," Heather asked genuinely.

"No thanks. I'm not hungry."

"The APCs parked outside. I'll do some final checks," Arthur said to no one in particular, and he promptly turned to leave the mess hall.

Tol'din spoke to Kra'tak though everyone else was too busy to notice. Kra'tak watched Arthur walk away, looked around at the others and then went back to his meal.

* * *

Earth – Space Transport Cargo Dock

Makalo and Jade, both grimy with sweat, were continuing their sweep of Section F. Makalo was wearing combat gear now. They, along with the other six, had been sweeping this section of the docks for the last hour.

They had carried out a sweep earlier in the dark and found nothing. The group had then decided to take a rest and wait for daylight to continue searching.

"How many do you think there are?" Makalo asked, putting a hand under his helmets visor to wipe off sweat.

"Hopefully, just one," Jade replied smoothly, concentration deep in her voice. "If there were more we'd have had more sightings or attacks."

"Yeah, I hope you're right."

"Me too."

"_This is Echo Four. We've spotted evidence of the creature just outside the northeast area of Section F. Echoes Seven and Eight are ordered to join our flank."_

"That's us. Let's move," Jade instructed.

They moved briskly to their new destination. When they arrived they found Echoes Three and Four waiting.

"We've got a trail leading into this building," Echo Four said, pointing at a large building in front of them. "The others are converging from the opposite side."

The building was a large concrete structure with very few, very small windows dotted around. It was a storage building. Due to the nature of its content, it had been designed so that no one could really see what was inside.

"Great, we wait for daylight and _this_ is the building we have to check out?!" Makalo complained.

"Quiet," Echo Four said. "We go in two by two on my mark. Stick together and watch all corners."

Makalo gulped nervously. Jade seemed calm and cool headed to him.

"_Echoes One, Two, Five and Six in position."_

"Mark."

They moved toward the small double door entrance. Echo Four punched a code into the keypad as the others took up covering positions. Echo four glanced at the others, each giving a nodding confirmation, quickly grabbed the door handle and pulled it open.

Jade and Echo Three moved into the entrance immediately, Makalo hesitated momentarily before moving in too. Echo Four moved in last.

The smell hit Jade and Makalo instantly. The Echoes were wearing full face masks. It was the smell of rotting flesh, whether humans or animals they couldn't tell.

"Go slow, sweep the corners," Echo Four ordered.

The dark interior of the building consisted of large stacks of shelves filled with crates, none of which made obvious what the contents were. The scattered shafts of light coming in through the few small windows did little to help pierce the almost pitch black.

"Night vis on," Echo Four ordered.

"Roger that," the other Echoes replied.

"Shit," Jade muttered under her breath.

Both her and Makalo didn't have night vision. In response Echo Four took point and Echo Three covered their rear. Jade gave appreciative thanks in her mind, understanding what they had just done. Makalo was too jittery to take notice.

"Keep calm," Jade whispered to him. "We'll be fine."

She sounded more confident than she felt. They moved slowly through the aisles of shelves. Soon their boots were walking on something soft and mushy. Jade was glad they couldn't see what was on the ground.

The smell itself was becoming stronger.


	19. Chapter 19

"We're getting closer," Echo Four stated.

_They must be able to see what's on the ground_, Jade thought.

Near the middle of the large warehouse was a clear space, designed to allow easier manoeuvring of cargo. The ceiling above this area was retractable. Echo four made a hand signal which Jade and Makalo barely saw in the little natural light reaching them.

They all stopped.

The smell was almost unbearable now and Makalo was finding it hard not to gag. Echo Three was looking all around them. In the various green shades of his night vision he could see the tops of the shelves they had just passed.

Echo Four was looking towards the centre of the room, staring at a large pile of dead animals in various states, bones strewn all over.

"_How did nobody notice this?"_ Echo One said over the radio.

"_Quiet!"_ Echo Four responded. "It's here somewhere."

Echo Three continued scanning the tops of the shelves, seeing numerous large crates but nothing out of the ordinary.

They continued slowly into the clearing, with the other Echoes approaching from the opposite side.

_Crack!_

They all turned in unison towards the location the sound had just come from. Before they could respond, a large heavy piece of wooden crate fell on Makalo, knocking him unconscious.

Echoes Three and Four caught sight of a black blur moving over the top of the shelves, away from them.

"_Shit! It's in the crates!"_ Echo Three shouted.

The other Echoes ran to join them from the opposite side.

"Echo One, stay with them," Echo Four shouted, pointing at Jade and Makalo.

Echo One did as he was told, the others moving together to cut off the creature. Jade turned on the light attached to the rifle. She hadn't been able to use as it would have blinded the Echoes using night vision. With effort, she pushed off the piece of crate and squatted beside Makalo, checking his vitals. He seemed fine, just unconscious and bleeding from a cut on the top of his head.

The others all slowed as they approached the area where the creature had run off to. It hadn't kept quiet, knocking over various objects including some crates while trying to get away. Now they all scanned the area, rifles pointing wherever they were looking.

Echo Four spotted something crouching high up, on the top shelf, between crates.

He motioned with his hands, signalling to the others who took up positions around it. Echo Four then started a countdown using hand signals, the safety off on his machine gun.

Four.

Three.

Two.

The creature launched itself at Echo Three from above. He fired a single shot before the force of the creature knocked him over. It landed square on his chest, crushing it. His scream was cut off as it slashed at his neck with its claws. Echo Three would be dead within seconds.

At the same time, Echoes Five and Six had closed the gap and started firing. The creature, without looking away from attacking Echo Three, swung its razor sharp tail towards them, decapitating Echo Five. Echo Six flinched instinctively away from Echo Five, the tail whistling past where his neck had just been. Echo Five's head fell to the floor with a dull thud, blood spraying out of the severed neck of the body as it followed a second later.

The others opened fire at the creature. It shrieked loudly in pain and rolled over, all the while trying to attack them. They continued firing, leaving little intact of its sleek black head. The body twitched a few times then stopped moving completely.

Echo Two moved towards the dying Echo Three, who still had enough strength to clutch at his throat, blood flowing profusely.

Echo Four put his arm in the way. "Stop! Look."

Echo Two stopped and looked again at Echo Three in the green of night vision. The blood from the creature had spilt all over him and they could see that it was eating away at his face, armour and clothing.

Echo Six moved away from the headless body of Five, trying hard not to wretch into his helmet.

They continued to watch as Echo Three ceased his struggle and let out a final gasp of breath. Acrid smoke rose from his limp body and there was no more movement from him.

"This is Echo Team reporting in," Echo Four radioed.

"This is Powell. Line is secure. Report."

"Creature neutralised. Two dead, one injured," Echo Four replied.

"Ok. Stay where you are. Clean up crew is on the way."

10 minutes later the doors opened and people in military garb entered the room, setting up portable lights inside. Jade didn't recognise any of them.

A sharply dressed man strode in as the door closed behind him. It was obvious to her that this was a man from the Company. A medic walked up to Makalo.

"How is he?"

"Unconscious. Got hit on the head by that," Jade pointed at the large piece of crate.

The medic checked over Makalo, bandaged the cut on his head and moved on to the others. As he surveyed the scene, now lit up by the portable lights, he realised there was little he could do.

The Echoes still had their masks on and were gathered a few metres away from the bodies. The man in the crisp suit went up to them.

"Gentleman, follow me." He looked at Jade with a slight smile. "Lady too."

The man took a quick glance at the bodies but didn't seem to react.

They all gathered at the edge of the clearing in the middle of the warehouse, where Makalo had been unconscious.

"Wake him up," the man ordered.

The medic responded by administering something to Makalos nose which woke him almost instantly. He looked around squinting, his eyes adjusting to the light, and got up groggily with the help of Jade.

"Those eggs you have been finding? This is what results if they are allowed to hatch. The one you killed today was not fully grown. You have been sworn to secrecy and we trust you will continue to uphold that."

No one really reacted.

"However, you may be called upon again in the future if another of these is sighted. We value your experience in this matter. Now we need you to sign these forms, so we can get this cleaned up and let you go on your way."

What he didn't mention was that they had been, and would still continue to be watched.

The group knew they had little choice but to sign. They did so and they were washed off before leaving the building.

Jade and Makalo stood outside, grateful to be finally breathing some fresh air and seeing the bright daylight.

"Next time, we'll make sure you're properly equipped," the still masked Echo Four said as he approached them from behind.

Makalo answered, "That'd be great."

Jade gave an approving nod. Echo Four walked off.

"I wonder who's underneath that helmet," Makalo said.

Jade simply looked up at the sky, seeing ships buzzing around, listening to the usual frenzy of noise in and around the docks, and looking forward to getting some rest.

* * *

"How many in total?" Colonel Rayner asked.

"Nine," the doctor reported.

He was in the Colonels main office, sitting opposite him. The Colonel leaned over his desk, poured a drink and offered it to the doctor.

"All in quarantine?"

Taking the drink, the doctor nodded.

"How long do they have?"

"My guess is two or three days more, going by Barr and what others on the two infected planets said."

"I thought the incubation period was much shorter than that?" The Colonel asked.

"It seems to depend on the planet: different atmospheres, different conditions. Just like the Aliens adapt to different hosts, the life cycle seems to work at different rates," the doctor answered.

"For as long as we've been fighting them, we don't really know much about them do we?"

"No..." the doctor let the answer trail off.

The Colonel said what they were both thinking. "They keep too much from us."

The doctor nodded almost imperceptibly and took another sip of his drink.

"What do you suggest we do with the infected?" the Colonel continued.

"One of them suggested we blast them into space," the doctor said without a hint of irony.

"Do you agree?"

"My professional opinion cannot agree with such an act. I would recommend trying to treat them, but we don't have the time nor the resources."

"I'll go and have a chat with them soon. For now, get some rest. You've earned it. We have 48 hours until we reach Endora Prime."

With that, the doctor finished his drink, got up and left the Colonel to his thoughts.

* * *

The expedition group were standing around the idling APC. It was fully electric, the vehicle making only a very quiet electronic whine when moving. It drove on six large powerful tires impervious to Alien blood. It was fairly long and narrow covered completely in thick armour, also resistant to acidic blood. It was painted in the greens and browns of the surrounding forest.

The APC had no windows; instead the driver relied on external cameras and internal monitors. There was a single turret mounted on the top controlled internally. An open turret was asking to be killed. The APC was designed to simply push through and run over any and all Aliens it encountered. Its main weakness was its inability to handle rough or debris filled terrain, which was where most battles took place.

Smith hugged his wife and child, tussling Caley's hair. "I'll be back before you know it."

Patia gave him a worried smile and Caley hugged his dad's legs tightly. Smith placed a hand on his sons head, looking straight into his wife's eyes. "I love you," he mouthed.

She mouthed the same, her lips quivering. Her eyes watered, so did Smiths, and a small tear ran down each cheek. He finally undid his sons clamp around his legs, crouched down and hugged him again.

There was a sizable group here. With the eight that were leaving, lovers, friends and family that had been living together for more than two years in this remote research base were being separated for the first time. As this whole base had become one big family in that time, only those stuck at their guard posts weren't here though some watched from above.

An undeniable sense of gloom permeated the atmosphere. The body language spoke for them, words of positivity and encouragement doing its best to penetrate the gloominess.

Smith walked up to Finley, Hurst, and Adams who were busily talking together.

Finley nodded over at Smith and spoke sincerely to Adams, "Look after him."

"I will," Adams spoke confidently. "You two look after yourselves and everyone here. We'll see you soon."

Finley looked straight at Smiths eyes. "We will. That's a promise."

"Yeah," Hurst spoke up, sounding less confident.

Words spoken, Adams and Smith hugged Finley and Hurst in turn. Finley laid a hand on Smiths shoulder, "Look after Amy, don't let her get too curious. You know what these science types are like pressing every button they see," he said, trying to sound light hearted but the emotion heavy in his voice.

Though Finley, Adams and Hurst were veterans the unique situation at Endora Prime had softened them considerably.

Tom, holding a small metal case, walked up to Amy, who was talking quietly to a few of the civilians gathered there.

"Take this," he said.

Amy gave him a puzzled look, to which he replied, "It is vitally important. In case things do not go as planned here, or our rescue doesn't turn up. Keep it with you at all times and don't let it out of your sight."

She nodded understandingly and then promptly hugged Tom tightly. He could feel her trembling nervously. He whispered into her ear.

She let go, and gave him a quick smile, "It's been a pleasure."

"We'll see each other again soon," Tom said confidently. "Look after our new friend."

Amy let out a small uneasy laugh.

Private Callum stood watching the goodbyes. "Last supper, last goodbyes..." he said quietly to himself.

Private Gustav, Hale and Heather, standing next to him, gave him a stern look to which he responded apologetically.

"We're loaded up ready to go," Arthur said, standing at the open side door of the APC.

The group's collective murmur of conversations quietened when Kra'tak and Tol'din approached, carrying their fallen clan mate wrapped in black sheets on a stretcher. They walked past the gathered group and entered the APC.

Finley and Hurst turned back towards Adams and Smith.

"We'll see you when you get back," Finley spoke determinedly.

All four again exchanged hugs and handshakes.

Smith turned to Hurst, "I won't forget our talks."

"We'll have plenty more. I'm sure of it," Hurst replied sternly.

Goodbyes said, they all piled in to the APC as the onlookers watched silently. Heather, standing inside the APC entrance, took one last look around the base and the people gathered to watch them go, gave a curt nod and closed the door.

The artificial lighting inside the crowded APC gave it a strong feeling of claustrophobia.

"Bit tight in here," Gustav remarked on the obvious.

Kra'tak and Tol'din sat on one side near the back, with their fallen clan mate laid out on the seats opposite them.

Heather was the driver and she, along with Adams and Hale sat up front, a bank of monitors and controls in front of them. Amy sat with her back to Heathers seat. Arthur sat at the other console, which controlled the gun turret and monitored various aspects of the vehicle including tire status.

Smith, Gustav and Callum sat near the door and the Predators. Neither Kra'tak nor Tol'din could fully stand up inside the vehicle.

Supplies were in storage areas both overhead and under the seating. There was enough food, water and general supplies to last the group a week.

Heather, Adams and Hale watched the monitors as the only gate into the facility was opened up, with a large team of soldiers covering the immediate area surrounding it. Some of those soldiers gave their thumbs up as the large vehicle drove past them almost silently.

"Here we go," Hale said.

First light had broken a short while ago. They passed the flat clearing quickly and entered the forest. Though the trees were spread quite far apart, making it easy for the APC to drive through, each one grew a broad canopy high above. This stopped a lot of light from getting through, making it darker at ground level.

"We'll take the same route as last time," Heather informed the others.

"Looks like we can still see the path you took," Adams added, watching the monitors.

"Yeah, that'll make it easy. Just watch the other monitors for signs of activity."

"Yes, sir," Hale responded.

Private Gustav started whistling a quiet tune to himself. Callum and Smith played a game of cards. Kra'tak and Tol'din sat silently in the back. Arthur busied himself at his console. They all rocked gently as the APC began driving over uneven terrain, the suspension doing its job of minimising the impact on its passengers.

They were on their way.


	20. Chapter 20

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* * *

An uneventful hour and a quarter later, the APC and its occupants arrived at their first destination: Kra'taks crash site.

"Made it in an hour and a quarter," Heather reported.

"Yeah, thanks to clearing the path last time out," Hale added.

They hadn't spotted a single Alien or animal life of any kind during their journey. This didn't sit well with any of the group.

"Okay, move out," Heather ordered.

As lead of this expedition, she was commanding the others, though it was more of a mutual leadership. During the two years on this planet, they had created their own military and civilian order, forgoing the normally strict rules. It was still a military operation but the civilians were treated as equals rather than subordinates.

Adams opened the door and was first out, boots crunching on leaves and twigs strewn on the soft ground beneath.

They filed out, taking up tactical positions all around the vehicle. Kra'tak and Tol'din came out last. Other then wind rustling through the tree canopy high above, there was no other sound.

Arthur stayed at the turrets control and Amy moved up to the front to watch the monitors. Heather closed the APC door and took up position outside.

Smith stood to the south of the vehicle, AM-232 in hand, sniper rifle slung on his back.

"Way too quiet," Callum said.

"Stop speaking in clichés," Gustav scoffed. "You'll get us all killed."

"Quiet. Stay alert you two." Heather firmly stated.

"They must be saving themselves for later," Hale remarked.

No one disagreed.

Tol'din activated his cloak, surprising those he had been standing near when he did so. They watched in fascination as his barely discernible blur moved off towards a nearby tree and began climbing effortlessly. A short while later they couldn't pinpoint his location; he was hidden in the canopy above.

"Nice. A lookout," Hale said.

Adams was wondering how you could possibly take on such an opponent and hope to beat them. Even with a whole platoon of soldiers. He didn't like his answers.

Kra'tak moved off towards the ship which was a few metres to the right of the parked APC. There was little damage to the area: the ship had crash through the canopy above and then fallen straight down, avoiding the trunks of the spread out trees.

Kra'taks half of the ship was mostly intact.

"Adams, cover him," Heather ordered.

Adams nodded and moved to follow Kra'tak. When they reached the crash site, Kra'tak went inside whilst Adams waited outside. Five minutes later, Kra'tak emerged. Adams took a quick look at him and then continued scanning the area.

Kra'tak had replaced his heavily battered helmet with a fresh one that hadn't been damaged in the crash. He was carrying two loads of equipment, one in each hand.

"I have my equipment. We can continue our journey," he told Adams.

Private Callum was becoming jittery, the calmness making him more nervous and paranoid.

THUD!

Callum jumped and almost pressed the trigger on his gun when Tol'din materialised in front of him.

"Shit, don't do that man," Callum said, frightened.

"He's not a man, and he doesn't understand you," Gustav replied, stifling a laugh. He'd watched the camouflaged figure of Tol'din coming down the tree.

Tol'din looked in their direction but didn't react, the metal mask hiding his face. He stood still for a moment before simply walking off towards the APC.

"If anyone wants to take a leak, now's the time," Heather suggested.

A few minutes later, they all walked to the vehicle as Heather opened the door.

"Ok, time to move on. Fall in," Heather ordered.

"Good, I hate this place," Callum said as he followed the others into the APC.

"Already?" Gustav mocked. "Give it time. You might come to like it here."

Callum gave him a look to say shut up. Gustav just grunted in laughter.

"Stow it you two, play time is over," Heather said. "We're entering uncharted territory now."

They listened and took to their seats quietly.

"Uncharted for us..." Smith let the thought trail off.

Heather sat in the drivers position as the others took up their places once more.

Kra'tak and Tol'din busied themselves at the back of the APC. They began taking out various equipment and working on Kra'taks wrist computer.

"Adams, radio home," Heather said, checking statuses and readying the vehicle. "Tell them we're at the crash site and are moving off to the second marker."

Adams did so.

* * *

"Good to hear your voice," Raul had relief in his voice.

_"No contact or sightings of Aliens so far,"_ Adams continued.

"That's not good, is it?" Raul asked.

_"Negative."_

"I'll let the others know you reported in."

_"Thanks. Adams out."_

Patia and many of the civilians again gathered in the mess hall to keep themselves occupied and spirits up whilst anxiously awaiting news about the expedition team.

The radio placed on the table where many of the adults were sitting crackled to life. Andre listened from behind the food counter as Raul reported to them.

"I can't wait until they get back," Patia worried.

Another woman leaned over from across the table and squeezed Patias hand lightly, with a sympathetic look.

Caley, Zara and a couple others were playing on the ground floor.

"So when do we go?" Caley asked excitedly.

He wanted even more to go see the cages they had talked about the day before. It would serve as a good distraction from waiting for his father to come back.

"Let's play for a bit and we'll try to sneak out a little later on," Zara replied.

"Do you know where they are?" one of the other children asked.

"Yeah, they're close to the labs where the scientists work," Zara said.

"What if we get caught? Will we get in trouble?" he asked.

"We won't. I know the code. They shouldn't have soldiers watching since they caught that monster thing." Zara answered.

"Ooh, that was a scary monster. Was it really a monster?" the other child asked.

"I don't know. It could be a man in a funny looking suit." Zara said.

"Ew, why would you want to wear that suit?" the child quizzed, with an expression of disgust.

Zara just shrugged. They went back to the chess game one of the adults had told them to play. They didn't know the rules, so they just made them up. The horsey was galloping over castle walls and crushing all the funny looking pieces in its way.

"This is a funny game."

* * *

The Colonel was standing in the infirmary, looking on as medical staff went about their business. He had come to check up on Barr.

"How did the surgery go?"

"We couldn't risk performing it in the end. He's too weak," the doctor explained.

"Chances of survival?" the Colonel asked.

"Extremely small," the doctor answered, sensing where this was going.

"Ok. End it. Peacefully if you can," the Colonel ordered, not a hint of emotion in his voice.

"Yes, sir," the doctor replied.

The doctor called over two more members of staff. The Colonel looked on as they begun the procedure to end Barrs life.

"Lieutenant Williams," Colonel called out.

Williams appeared at his side. "Yes, sir?"

"We're turning off Barrs life support. Inform those that came from the same colony. They can hold a ceremony before we eject his capsule into space."

"Understood."

Williams paced away with purpose.

* * *

An hour had passed since the children had been playing their version of chess. They were growing increasingly bored and restless.

"Ok, you lot wait here," Zara directed, "I'll check if the route is safe and come back to let you know."

Caley and the other two had no choice but to agree.

A long fifteen minute wait later Zara came back, escorted by two soldiers. She had a despondent look on her face.

"Now you all know not to leave this building unless you have permission, right?" one of the soldiers lectured, pointing his finger at them one by one.

They all nodded in unison, "Yes, sir."

"Good. Zara here didn't listen but we're going to let her off this time," the other soldier added.

"Next time she won't be let off so lightly," the first soldier added. "Will she?" he asked the children.

"No, sir," they answered in unison, looking guilty.

When the soldiers left Zara huffed, annoyed she'd been caught.

"What happened?!" Caley asked with genuine concern.

Before she could answer she heard her mum begin to scold her from afar, entering the room. Her weak protests gave in as all four of them were forced back into the mess hall.

While they were marched upstairs, Zara whispered to the others that they would try again tomorrow. Caley's unhappy, worried look changed to one of slight excitement again.

In turret 3A, Finley and Hurst were looking out across the clearing towards the beginnings of the forest.

"It's been quiet for a couple of days now," Hurst commented.

"Yeah, we know why," Finley replied.

"How long, if you had to guess?" Hurst asked.

"Hard to say," Finley acknowledged. "Could be tomorrow, could be tonight."

"Could be next week," Hurst continued the thought.

"Did we ever figure out when the rescue was to arrive?" Hurst questioned.

"No, we weren't told any specifics."

"I wonder what they'll find there," Hurst thought out loud.

"Things we aren't supposed to know, most likely." Finley stated.

They went back to their own thoughts, watching the tree line for any signs of life.

* * *

Colonel Gordon Rayner walked with purpose through his ship, thinking things through. He headed towards the quarantine room where the nine infected passengers had been unceremoniously dumped for lack of a better option.

He came up to the two fully armed masked marines standing guard. The Colonel again mentally noted their cold inhuman look.

Through the small window in the door he could see activity.

"Open it."

The guard did as ordered. The sound from inside the room became clearer. He could hear quiet sobbing, and talking in hushed tones.

The woman, Karla, with whom he had spoken earlier stood at the entrance. The others quieted down. To the Colonel she seemed to now be their leader of sorts. She held a distressed look.

The Colonel fully entered the room and took in the nine within it. They all looked at him, expectantly, as if hoping that he'd found a solution to their short to be lived life sentence.

"What have you decided?" the Colonel asked, before they could question him.

"Two of them have been infected longer than the rest of us. They've agreed to be ejected into space." Karla answered, pointing at the two, a man and woman.

The Colonel looked at their defeated faces. "Are you sure?"

Making brief eye contact they simply nodded, visibly shaking. The Colonel reacted by moving to a COM panel outside the room.

"Lieutenant Williams."

"Sir?" came Williams answer over the COM.

"Bring two marines with you and report to the quarantine area immediately."

"Yes, sir," the COM clicked off.

The Colonel re-entered the room. "Do you have any last wishes?"

"We...w..want to re...re...cord a m..m..message," one of them said.

"Anything else?" the Colonel asked in a hard, cold tone.

The same one shook his head.

A few minutes later Lieutenant Williams arrived along with the armed escort. The seven others in quarantine watched in silence as the two left the room, the armed guards on either side of them.

The door was shut, leaving the remainder to their thoughts.

After further questioning them, the Colonel ordered Williams to locate those who wanted to see off the two who had now chosen to die this way rather than wait for the inevitable.

The male rubbed his chest; one of the guards watched carefully. The woman stayed quiet, a shell-shocked expression locked on her face.

* * *

Heather had been driving for almost two hours now since leaving Kra'taks crash site. Adams, sitting at the front, had been carrying out regular radio checks with Raul. The signal was now starting to become weaker.

"_This...Raul...breaking up...chh...luck,"_ Raul said.

"Understood, we'll be in touch as soon as possible," Adams reported, unsure how much of the message would actually get through.

"_...tck...other...cir...ide.."_ came the response.

"What did he say?" Hale asked.

"Something about other side," Adams said.

"Don't like the sound of that," Hale remarked.

"Don't worry, he was just wishing us luck," Private Gustav said from behind Hale.

Kra'tak and Tol'din were still busy working with their equipment. Both Smith and Amy continued to watch with fascination. They'd noticed that the two of them had not touched any of the equipment on their fallen clan mate.

Amy had wanted to talk to Kra'tak but the combination of him being busy and the presence of Tol'din had made her too uncomfortable to try.

Heather concentrated on driving through the forest. The trees had stayed far apart to her relief. If they had become more tightly packed she imagined they would have had to stop and turn back.

Private Callum had managed to fall asleep, worry lines dug deep into his furrowed brow.

"The man can't even relax in his sleep," Gustav remarked.

Smith turned to Gustav, looked at Callums sleeping figure then went back to watching Kra'tak and Tol'din. He wondered when he'd see his family and friends again.

"We'll be there in a couple more hours," Heather reported to the rest.

"Still no activity outside," Adams commented.

"I really don't like this," Hale couldn't help but say it. "It's too..."

"Don't say it!" Gustav cut him off. "Please! We have enough clichés from sleepyhead over here. Besides, you said it yourself earlier that they must be saving themselves for later."


	21. Discovery

Almost two hours later they came upon a clearing cut through the forest. They were about to cross straight over it in to more forest. Heather brought the APC to a stop.

Hale examined the monitors. "Looks like a road."

"It's not even overgrown," Adams agreed.

The three of them checked the digital map. Looking at the left cameras monitor, Heather could see that the dirt road curved to the right further down.

"If we go left, we can follow that curve further down," Heather recommended. "If it goes straight from there, it'll take us direct to our marker."

They agreed and once again the vehicle moved off, rocking its occupants gently as it left the forest and moved on to the smooth dirt road.

"Shouldn't it be overgrown?" Hale wondered.

"They must've wanted it to stay clear without maintenance." Adams said. "They were probably planning on being here a long time."

"But they didn't want to be out in the open," Hale considered. "Just like us."

They followed the dirt road as it curved towards the right. It straightened up as Heather had anticipated. A few hundred metres ahead lay a discernible structure. The three at the front examined the view shown in the monitors.

Heather slowed the vehicle and approached gradually. Coming closer, they could now see high structures covered in green moss and plant life on either side of the dirt road. The road itself continued unimpeded between them.

"Those look like walls," Hale pointed out.

The original drab military grey of the walls came through in patches far and few between.

"There's no gate," Heather added.

Now just a few metres away from the supposed entrance, they could see that something had been torn forcefully from the surrounding walls. The sides of them were jagged; big chunks missing.

Amy, Gustav and Smith joined in watching the monitors over their shoulders. Callum stretched his sleep away and took a sip of water from a bottle. Arthur was still paying full attention to his own monitors. Kra'tak and Tol'din stayed sitting in the back of the vehicle, having finished with their equipment repairs.

Heather eased the vehicle up to and past the high walls. They came upon a large clearing that continued ahead and on the left. In the distance they could see the crumbling remains of a perimeter wall, now mostly green with overgrown plants. To their right were a number of buildings, the fronts all arranged neatly to form one larger facade.

"They look connected," Amy observed.

A few metres past the high walls the road was blocked by what were the remains of the gate and large chunks of the high wall. The gate was almost as thick as their own and made out of solid steel.

"How'd the gate end up here?" Hale worried.

"Maybe something big hit it from outside," Gustav suggested jokingly.

"They blew it themselves?" Smith suggested. "It got stuck?"

"It'd be outside then, wouldn't it?" Hale countered.

"Enough!" Heather admonished.

The others went quiet.

"What's the plan?" Adams asked.

"We'll go round the debris, find a place to park up near the buildings and scope it out." Heather planned. "Where's the ship supposed to be?"

Amy went over to Kra'tak. "Can you tell us where the ship is?"

Kra'tak, currently without helmet, spoke to Tol'din. "We can show you outside."

Amy noted that his voiced had changed slightly. He still mimicked Toms but was beginning to be influenced by the growls, grunts and clicks of his own language.

She smiled at Kra'tak, not knowing if the gesture really meant anything to him. She walked to the front, placing a hand briefly on the side for balance as Heather turned the APC to go around the debris.

"He'll show us outside," Amy relayed.

"Don't see it in the clearing," Hale noted.

"Probably inside," Amy replied.

"They made plenty of room to land ships here," Adams took notice. "Didn't do the same for us."

"Wasn't it because our base was hastily built?" Smith wondered.

"That's what they said," Amy added, "That's why we had an orbiting ship until recently."

"What did they say the reason was for the ship leaving?" Gustav asked, interested in the direction of this conversation.

"Doesn't make sense..." Smith trailed off in thought.

"Enough!" Heather said again, this time more forcefully. "Forget the theories for now. Let's see what we can find here and whether or not we can salvage anything first. We've got less than an hour of daylight left."

The others listened and kept further thoughts on the topic to themselves.

"Everyone except Arthur and Amy, gear up," Heather ordered. "We go out in five."

Kra'tak put on his new helmet, which hissed as it connected, and gathered his equipment that now included a shoulder mounted cannon.

Five minutes later, they were all standing guard around the APC; weapons ready, eyes and ears alert. They had parked in front of the central building of the facility.

"You hear that?" Smith whispered. He was listening to the sounds of what he assumed were the natural life on this planet.

"Yeah, never heard anything like it before," Adams answered, whispering too.

"No bugs around here, that's probably why," Callum hoped.

They were all talking in low voices, not wanting to attract unwanted attention.

"No more talking," Heather instructed. "We split in two groups. My group will go further ahead and scope out the buildings."

She turned to Kra'tak, thinking up a way to ask rather than order him.

Kra'tak spoke before she did. "Tol'din and I will do as you say."

Heather mouthed silent thanks. "Ok. Adams, Smith, Kra'tak and Tol'din. You work your way back to where we came. Check the buildings and see if you can find a way in."

They broke in to the two groups. Amy watched the groups move off as instructed and promptly closed the APC door. She turned to Arthur who was watching the monitors.

"I'll stay on the turret," Arthur said. "Let me know if you spot anything on the other monitors."

"Will do," Amy nodded, checked her radio, then took up a seat in front.

Heathers group moved away from the entrance they had come to, towards the wall on the opposite side. Looking at the area around them, they could clearly see the signs of battle that Tol'din had mentioned.

The ground close to the buildings was strewn with the odd pieces of equipment: machine guns broken in pieces, torn body armour, a couple intact helmets, and long dried stains, in faded reds and greens, dotted along the ground. There were also small craters spread further out in the clearing.

The fronts of the buildings they were passing contained no windows. The lower halves were being overgrown by a vine like plant. Unlike expected these vines were not rooted in the ground rather they seemed to grow out of the building itself. There were chunks missing, obvious signs of explosives used, and bullets and more stains marked the top halves of the buildings which weren't yet overgrown.

Further along, close to the perimeter wall now, Heather and her team came across a tall structure that looked very much like a hangar. Though the two huge doors were bent inwards, they still held fast, with no visible gaps for them to fit through.

Heather brushed away vines from the smaller access door for the hangar. She tried to push it open but it was locked tight.

"Let's go back," she ordered quietly.

Adams team worked its way back towards the entrance they had come through. They moved between the buildings and the giant piece of the gate that had blocked the APC. The last building they came to contained empty windows further up. All others were windowless. This one was four storeys tall.

"The ship is on top of there," Kra'tak told the group.

Adams looked up on top of the windowed building.

"Great!" Callum exclaimed, still whispering.

Adams looked at Smith doubtfully. They were thinking the same – this building would be the most dangerous as it was open to the outside.

"Ok, let's head back," Adams ordered.

The day was beginning to fade into twilight. Darkness would follow soon.

The two groups met up again at the APC and reported their findings.

"Looks like the hangar is the best bet then," Heather proposed.

"How do we get in?" Hale asked. "Climb in through the windows?"

"No," Heather replied. "Too dangerous."

"Tol'din and I can enter the broken building and make it safe," Kra'tak said.

Heather thought for a moment. "Okay, do it."

Kra'tak tried activating his cloak. Electricity crackled along his body, startling some of the others, but again it failed to activate. A low growl signified his displeasure. He then quickly ran through further diagnostics: his vision modes were now working, but the tracking on his shoulder cannon was intermittent.

The two of them moved off, Tol'din activating his cloak and once again becoming an almost undetectable blur.

"Do we wait?" Callum asked.

"No choice," Heather said. "These doors look solid, grenades probably won't work and we don't want to ring the dinner bell."

They stood near the APC. Amy opened the door to join them in listening to the sounds of what they assumed was the natural life on this planet.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Amy asked, standing next to Smith and Adams.

"Wish Caley could hear this," Smith replied.

Ten minutes later they heard a muffled explosion coming from the windowed building. They all looked worryingly in that direction, unsure what to do.

"Should've given him a radio," Gustav said in response.

They could do nothing but continue to wait. Another ten minutes passed. The light was really starting to fade now and darkness was taking over. Amy went back inside the APC and shut the door, stopping the interior lighting from illuminating the outside.

"Woah! Look at that," Hale pointed towards the centre building.

They all turned to look. Hidden behind the vines near the door leading into the building they could see a faint red glow.

"What _is_ that?" Callum slowly enquired.

Heather moved up to it. Brushing away the vines, which broke easily and fell to the ground, she revealed a control panel below the strong red light. The display was glowing a faint blue, highlighting Heathers facial features. The screen simply displayed:

– – – – – –

"Must be a passcode," Hale whispered, standing next to her.

"Any guesses?" Heather asked rhetorically.

In response, Hale began brushing away vines around the console as if hoping to find an answer there. Heather watched quizzically, about to ask what he expected to find, when Hale revealed a set of numbers hastily etched into the wall above the panel.

"I'll be..." Heather exclaimed. "Everyone, form up on me."

The others came up and took positions around the doorway. Slowly, Heather punched in the numbers one at a time. The final number was accompanied by a low confirming beep and a sound emanating from the door. It popped open a little.

She opened it quickly, Adams and Hale immediately moving in, the others following rapidly. Before the door closed, Gustav placed a chunk of concrete to stop it from closing all the way.

"Good thinking," Callum commended.

Inside, the room responded to their entry by turning on emergency lights. The room was bathed in red light, leaving deep dark shadows where anything could be hiding.

The room they were in looked like a large foyer. Up ahead was a reception area with a large desk. Behind that was a corridor leading off to various areas. To the right of the room was an open stairwell leading to the next floor up.

In contrast to the outside and from what they could see, it looked almost impeccable.

The group moved cautiously inside, looking for any signs of movement. Heather motioned for them to move together to the desk. On the other side, they came upon a number of computer terminals, none of which seemed to be powered on.

On either side of the corridor behind the desk there were signs pointing to different areas:

GROUND FLOOR:  
LABORATORY 1  
LABORATORY 2 (CRYOGENICS)  
OPERATIONS  
VEHICLE HANGAR

UPPER FLOORS:  
BARRACKS  
LIVING QUARTERS  
CANTEEN

Heather quickly made plans. "We'll check out operations first. If they've got power, maybe we can get communications and some other systems running."

They moved into the corridor leading off behind the desk and turned right at the end of it. There was only one door ahead of them: OPERATIONS.

Again they took notice that there were no signs of battle at all inside. Etched into the wall above another actively glowing console was a different set of numbers from before. Heather punched them in and again they moved as one to enter the room.

Outside, Kra'tak and Tol'din, uncloaked, moved towards the APC. Amy dimmed the interior lights, opened the door and called over to Kra'tak. "The others have gone inside that building."

She pointed towards the open door. "Did you find anything?" she added.

"We found eggs. We have destroyed them."

The two of them moved into the building. They detected the low sounds of talking and followed them towards the operations room. The others watched as Kra'tak and Tol'din joined them inside the room and reported their findings.

The room itself was quite large and contained equipment along the walls and large consoles and displays throughout the room. There were seats for a dozen. Heather sat at one that was surrounded by a number of large displays.

A single screen was blinking with a cursor. She pressed a button and the system beeped to life. The screens came on, adding further colours of light to the currently red room, and began displaying various diagnostics. A lot of the lines flashing red as they scrolled by.

The group, having had enough of sitting in the APC, ignored the seats and stood spread around the room watching the displays curiously. Callum and Gustav stayed in the corridor, outside the only door to the room.

Eventually the log in screen came up and to everyone's surprise the username and password filled themselves in and booted up to what looked like a main menu of sorts.

"We need Amy in here," Heather realised, this being outside her and the teams realm of expertise.


	22. Influence

A half hour later Amy had joined them in the Operations room and was sitting at the main computer station, Heather watching from behind. The small metal case Tom had given sat beside her. Amy had activated normal lighting in the room and for parts of the building. Arthur continued to monitor the outside from within the APC.

Amy tapped keys. "They have long range communications, much better than ours."

"Can we contact home?" Heather asked.

"Should be able to," Amy continued inputting commands.

The display flashed red and pulled up a three dimensional image of the communications array. It pointed at a few specific points, indicating malfunctions. Amy rotated the image and zoomed out.

"That's on top of this building," Adams commented.

"It's exposed up there, and dark," Heather said. "We'll have Arthur look at it in the morning."

Smith had been hopeful but now looked frustrated. Adams put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll get it sorted."

Smith nodded sat down, deciding not to pay further attention to the displays.

"Does that map show the whole complex?" Heather asked.

"Let me see." Amy began manipulating it.

She zoomed out and the display began adding the surrounding buildings until they were looking at the whole complex. The entire base was interconnected. Each area was labelled. The windowed building where Kra'tak had found the eggs was labelled "LIVING QUARTERS".

"Explains the windows." Amy grimaced at the thought.

She zoomed in to where they were and was surprised to see a number of symbols flashing inside the room.

"That's us?" Hale asked.

"Sensors are tracking us," Amy confirmed.

"See if you can find anymore, especially in the living quarters," Heather suggested.

They spent the next twenty minutes going through the entire map. There was only one other life sign in the whole complex. It was labelled "Specimen 2218" inside the Cryogenics Lab.

"Don't like the sound of that," Hale commented when they came across it.

"Looks like it's frozen in stasis," Amy had replied.

"If sensors are working, are cameras?" Heather asked.

Amy searched through the menu system. "Strange. There's no mention of cameras at all."

The group looked around the room for any signs of the familiar cameras that covered their own base. They found none.

"Ok. So the only buildings connected to this one are the hangar, the two labs, the barracks, canteen and living quarters," Heather summarised for the rest.

"That's not even half the map," Hale added. "What about the rest of it?"

"Hidden passages?" Adams suggested.

"Possibly, yes," Amy replied. "Or they could just not be on the map."

"Ok, here's the plan," Heather brought the group back on track. "We check out all the places here that we can and secure this area. If there really aren't any doors leading to the rest of this place that's good, it'll be easier for us to keep it secure until we can leave."

The group listened.

"We just have to hope we find these secret passages and secure them, or they already are. Going by how impeccable this place is it doesn't look like the bugs came here from the living quarters." Heather continued.

"We split to the same two groups as before. My group will check out the labs first and then move to the hangar. See what we can find. Adams," Heather turned to him. "Your group goes upstairs and checks the canteen, barracks and secures entry to the living quarters. We don't want visitors."

Adams nodded. "We've got a couple mobile turrets with us."

Heather understood. "Good, secure that entrance with them."

The groups readied and moved off. Heather turned to Amy. "Lock this door and stay here. Let us know if you find anything."

"Will do."

As the two groups walked back through the corridor, they stopped at a couple of locked doors that stood opposite each other. The keypads next to them now glowed with power and asked for pass codes.

Heather activated her radio. "Amy, we need pass codes for the doors."

Amy replied a moment later. "Looks like somebody wanted whoever came back here to have easy access."

Heather and Adams punched in codes for each door and moved in. Bathed in red light, each team entered large storage rooms. They could see computer equipment, vehicle machinery, tools and general living essentials, all seemingly untouched. The main lighting came on soon after they entered.

Closing those doors, the groups then split and Heathers team made its way to Lab 1. Inside they found a large room with floor to ceiling pods that had been designed to hold living organisms. More consoles, displays and lab equipment were spread around the room. The pods themselves were completely empty.

A cold chill welcomed them to the large cryogenics lab that contained the active life sign. Built into one wall were a number of stasis pods. All but one was inactive, the glass casings showing only darkness inside. The one in the middle glowed white with a faint hint of blue.

Cautiously approaching, Heather lowered her weapon and wiped away condensation with a gloved hand. Inside she could begin to see a figure. Clearing more of the glass, she backed away reflexively. It was a man in nothing but shorts. What shocked her and the others was that the man was as big as Kra'tak, bigger than a human was supposed to be. He was over eight feet tall, with huge bulky muscles, veins bulging throughout and an seemingly no fat at all.

Surrounding the pod, various displays showed status of the equipment and the man inside. Heather leant closer to one display and began reading.

"Specimen 2218. This is the life sign," she told the others. "Status is green. He's still alive."

She chose not to touch any of the controls and ordered the others not to either. They all looked back at the specimen inside, this time taking notice of and watching his chest very slowly rising up then down rhythmically. They couldn't see the face, unable to reach up to clear the glass that high.

Shaking off her bewilderment, Heather spoke up. "Ok, I don't like the look of this. Let's move on. Over there," she pointed at a door labelled Cold Storage.

The others covered as Heather moved to open the door. Once open the group were met with even colder air escaping from the room. A brief look inside showed an empty room with bare tables and shelves.

"It's still operational." Heather said. "We can store Kra'taks friends' body in here."

They left the lab making sure the door was locked securely.

Adams team had gone up the stairs and checked both the canteen and barracks. The canteen contained some tinned food with no expiry dates. The barracks, which had an empty armoury room, contained only a number of bunk beds complete with bedding and pillows.

"Something really strange happened here," Smith suggested.

Kra'tak and Tol'din followed Adams lead as he moved on to the doorway that connected to the living quarters. As he came upon it he noticed that it was welded shut. He ran his hand over the welds, the coldness of the metal travelling up his fingers. The console next to it was in pieces on the floor, exposing burnt out wiring and circuitry.

"Good. This door isn't opening. I'll set up a mobile turret nearby to cover it," Adams said. "Let's check the stairs."

At the opposite end to the living quarters door was the stairway giving access to the roof. At the top was another welded shut door.

"We'll have to cut this open in the morning," Adams decided. "I'll leave a turret here for now."

A few minutes later the team headed back.

Heather and her team entered the vehicle hangar. The emergency lights came on in response. In the glow of the red lights they could clearly see two small ships parked up. On closer inspection they saw that each ship had innards exposed and pieces strewn close by.

"Arthur can take a look while we wait for daylight," Heather told her team.

They examined the two inwardly bent hangar doors and were satisfied that they were secure for the time being. The hangar also included an office cubicle.

As both teams headed back to Operations to report their findings a computerised female voice breaking the silence from above startled them. The voice paused unnaturally at times.

"System online. It has been: Five. Three. Seven. Five. Days since last activation."

"Main power online. Communications offline. Specimen. Two. Two. One. Eight. Status green. Stasis pods One, Two, Four Five offline."

"Warning. Living quarters compromised. Main facility on lockdown."

"_Sorry! That was me," _Amy radioed.

* * *

Earth

As evening passed Makalo found himself at the local bar trying to drink away fresh memories of the days earlier traumatic events. He was already a little tipsy, teetering slightly on his stool.

A man sat on the seat next to his. Makalo recognised him as another regular, though they'd never spoken to each other. Behind the counter they were both sitting at was a large screen running the local news. It was a follow up to the previous night's report about dead bodies and the creature caught on leaked camera footage.

"_In a follow up to yesterday's reports, we can now confirm that the creature captured on video has been caught and killed. A dock spokesman had this to say, 'We confirm the creature now dead was in fact a banned species, illegally smuggled in from a colony. The crew responsible were two of its victims.' The spokesman did not answer questions."_

Makalo looked back down at his drink, hand wavering slightly as he cupped it around the glass. The murky brown liquid sloshed around as he brought it unsteadily to his mouth and drank it all in one gulp.

"Anotherrr," he said brashly to the bartender.

A short while and a few drinks later Makalo, usually reserved, was beginning to mumble loudly. As usual, the news channel soon repeated the same news story. This time Makalo snorted in response causing the bartender to briefly look his way before continuing with his work.

"Bullll..shiiittt," he slurred.

He turned to the man sitting next to him whom up to this point had been largely ignoring Makalo. "Shee that bulllshit?"

The man continued to ignore him until Makalo abruptly pulled on the suited mans cuff. The man looked at him, somewhat annoyed.

Makalo continued undeterred." I said shee that bull-".

"I saw it," the man cut him off, still annoyed.

"Yeahh, well..." he paused, his eyes briefly following something only he could see. "I know what really happened."

At this the man's expression changed to one of mild interest. "Oh yeah, what?"

"Itsh shupposhed to bee secret," Makalo continued, his head swaying about. He wasn't one to handle his drink well.

"You shouldn't be telling me then," the man replied.

He considered this for a drunken moment, "Nahhh, yous my buddy. We don't keep shecruts."

The man said nothing. The bartender moved away from the two of them, leaving them alone.

Makalo continued talking, "Itsh bullshitt. Company shecruts. Ssshhhh!". Makalo put his elbow on the counter and placed his head on his hand to restore some balance. "They had ush sign forms n everytin'."

The man continued to listen and watch Makalo.

"We killed it. Itsh why I'm here, I'm shh-cared,"

At this the man stood up. "You know what?" he took a few steps to Makalo and placed a firm hand around his shoulder. "Since we're buddies, let me treat ya yeah?"

Makalo, easily losing his training of thought answered. "Shure, thanks..."

"It's dead in here," the man insisted, leading Makalos attention with a pointed finger around the room. "Let's go somewhere a bit more lively. Leave our worries for the day behind."

"I ain't told yoush my shee-"

The man cut him off again. "We can talk about that later. Let's have a good time first," he persisted.

"S-shure."

"Great!"

With that the man guided Makalo off his seat, held him around the waist and together they headed towards the exit. The bartender watched from a distance. Makalo took no notice of the two other men who got up from separate areas of the bar and followed them out the exit door.


	23. Something New

Smith and Arthur had spent the last two hours in the hangar. Arthur was currently wrist deep in the innards of one of the crafts. Amy had turned on the main lights.

"So they taught you to fix these but didn't let you fly them?!" Smith was dubious.

"No time," Arthur replied without stopping. "There're so many ships and vehicles types, I didn't have time to do anything else."

"What made you become a mechanic?" Smith asked, making conversation to mostly pass the time and distract from the worries on his mind.

"I was good at it from a young age and I enjoyed it. Still do," Arthur replied. "I need to concentrate on this. Please."

Smith got the hint. He moved off toward the little office cubicle. "Just yell if you need me."

He didn't expect Arthur to actually need him seeing as he had no clue about vehicle repair. He hadn't even recognised any of the tools Arthur had asked for by name other than the most basic ones also used for maintaining his own equipment. He'd just slow Arthur down.

Sitting at the empty desk, he radioed in to report to Heather.

"_He says it's gonna take a while. At least a whole day, including fixing the comms." _

Heather listened. They were all back in the operations room, going through the system together to try to piece together a plan and see what they could find out about this place.

Kra'tak and Tol'din had taken to keeping a watch outside, preferring that to the confined indoors. They'd brought in their fallen clan mate and placed him in cold storage at Heathers suggestion. Kra'tak had taken a look at Specimen 2218 and asked Heather if he was a friend, to which she'd truthfully answered that she had no idea.

"Can he do it though?" Heather asked for confirmation.

Smith replied, _"He believes he can. Between the three ships and the stuff in the storage rooms he says he should get at least one of them working."_

Heather turned to the group. "We're going to be here at least another night."

The others acknowledged and resigned themselves to a longer stay.

"We might as well take another look around," Heather said to her team. "We could do with seeing if there's any hidden passages to get to the rest of this place."

"At least there's no vents here," Hale added, leaving the room.

"Not ones that we've found," Gustav remarked, following Hale out.

Adams, who'd slept for the last hour, nodded to Heather and moved up to sit with Amy. She continued tapping away at keys, trying to access more of the system. After the initial ease, she'd found further access becoming increasingly more secure and difficult to break through.

"What do you think this place is?" Adams asked.

"An experimental laboratory going by that Specimen 2218," she replied, rubbing tired eyes.

Adams watched her. "Get some sleep, I'll watch over this for a little while."

She did so.

As dawn broke Adams, Smith, Heather and Hale were almost done cutting open the door leading to the roof with the communications array. Arthur waited with equipment nearby.

"Done," Heather confirmed, pushing on the door.

As it fell forward, both Heather and Adams tried and failed to catch it before it hit the ground. Watching it fall, they cringed in anticipation of the loud clang it would make but to their surprise it stopped halfway through its fall. They saw Kra'taks alien hands grasp both sides and gently set it on the ground. Kra'tak and Tol'din had climbed to the roof from the outside.

Arthur moved to the array and began inspecting it. The others looked out across the complex and into the surrounding forest. The bright clear blue sky and the sounds of animals they'd heard before greeted them.

A while later Arthur finished his inspection. "I can replace the damaged parts. However, some of these circuits are fried and it looks like the same will happen to the new ones. That means they'll probably burn out quickly. We won't have long to talk."

"How long?" Heather asked.

"Less than a minute?" Arthur replied.

"You sure?" Heather questioned.

"Yes."

"Damn. Adams, Hale you stay up here. Smith, come with me. We'll wait in operations to contact home," Heather ordered.

"The display should tell you when the comms are back up," Arthur informed her.

It was two hours of waiting before the display started flashing green at points. In response Amy attempted to contact home. On her third try the signal seemed to get through.

Arthur radioed down, "You got about a minute!"

Raul was playing cards with Matsu when his console beeped loudly and Amy's voice came through the speaker.

"_This is Amy. Base do you copy?"_

Raul jumped out of his current seat and went to his desk.

"Raul here. Reading you loud and clear," he replied. "About time! Did you make it there?"

"_We're all ok. Just listen, comms will go down quickly," Amy said._

Heather took over, speaking quickly. "Raul, we made it last night. No signs of bugs and we haven't seen any life apart from a man in stasis. We found three ships. Arthur thinks he can get one working but it'll take another day. We won't be coming back until at least tomorrow. Let everyone know we're all ok."

"Understood," Raul replied.

Smith spoke next, _"Put me through to Patia, please."_

"One moment."

"_Smith?! Oh thank god. Are you all ok?!"_ Patia asked.

"_We're fine. We'll be...tomor...kshkk..chrkk,"_ the signal went dead.

"That's it, it's dead." Arthur said on the radio.

The display flashed and pointed at first one then three damaged areas of the array once again.

"Can you fix it again?" Heather asked.

"No. Don't have any more replacement circuits," Arthur replied.

"Alright, least we got something through. Get on with the ship repairs, check the ship up there." Heather ordered. "Adams, can you seal the door back up?"

"No. It won't fit now. I'll leave our second turret here. Kra'tak and Tol'din will stay on watch out here. They don't like being inside. I gave Kra'tak a radio and I've shown him how to use it."

"Good," Heather turned to Amy. "See what else you can find out about this place."

"I'm coming up against a lot of security now. It'll be slow progress from here." Amy replied.

"Great!" Heather said sarcastically. "The rest of us will just twiddle our useless thumbs for a while."

* * *

Endora Prime

After lunch time Zara, Caley and the same two children from the day before found themselves playing in the ground floor of the civilians building unsupervised once again. This time there were two soldiers guarding the only door leading outside.

Despite recent events including the deaths of Duante, Joe and Tyler, whose bodies were in cold storage in the medicentre, the adults were a feeling a lot more relaxed. In large part this was due to Tol'din no longer attacking them whilst looking for Kra'tak and the fact that they both left with the expedition group.

Zara had a downbeat mood, not expecting to be able to get to the lab to see the cages today either. Caley and the other two continued playing their own made up games.

Dena, Shen and Keitaro were keeping watch in the turret covering the gate. Rested, Keitaro had mostly recovered from his run in with Kra'taks friend. His cuts were almost healed, the stitches already beginning to dissolve. The sword on his back glistened in the bright daylight.

"It's strange," Dena thought out loud.

"What is?" Shen asked.

"Heather and the rest. They managed to contact us from all the way out there but we can't reach that far," she answered.

Keitaro, leaning on the sill of the windowless gap and looking out at the clearing and forest beyond, spoke up. "The whole things strange. Better to just wait 'til they get back and see what they found."

"It's such bullshit though," Dena went on. "I thought this place was different. We're like a family. None of that secrets bullshit and then we find out about this! From another alien species too!"

Shen spoke. "There's an old Chinese proverb 'If the wind comes from an empty cave, it's not without reason'."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Dena snapped.

"Things don't happen for no reason, everything has a cause," Shen replied.

"And?!" Dena asked impatiently.

"Let's just wait 'til they get back. Ok?" Shen reasoned.

At this, Dena calmed herself. She sighed reluctantly. "Yeah, alright."

A few silent moments passed. Dena continued reading a book, Shen doing the same.

Dena looked at Shen, "You didn't get that quote from that book just now?" she enquired.

Shen smirked, "Actually, I did. I thought it was fitting. Sorry!"

They both laughed quietly. Suddenly, Keitaro perked up and leaned further out of the gap, placing his hands on the sill for balance.

"What the hell is THAT?!" he yelled.

The two of them got up and joined him. _"_What?!" they both asked simultaneously.

"Look," he pointed to a spot in the forest.

The others squinted, scanning the tree line. Then they saw it. Something big was standing further in the forest almost completely camouflaged. They watched it intently for a few minutes, unsure if they really were seeing something or if shadows were playing tricks on them.

"Who's got binocs?" Dena asked.

Shen rifled through the equipment racks and found none. "Not us."

The radio squawked, "_This is Paolo in Turret 2E. We've spotted something in the forest. Looks big. It's directly in front of the gate."_

Paolo sounded calm. He was in the turret on the other side of the gate to Dena and co.

Rauls voice came on. _"Can you describe it?"_

"_Yeah, I'm using binocs. Let me see. It's got a big black body, what looks like four small legs, a mix between tree trunks and," he paused. "Claws? Are those bug claws?!"_

Shen activated his own radio. "Sounds like a mix of an elephant and a xenomorph but from what I can tell it looks bigger."

"_What's it doing?"_ Raul asked.

"Nothing. It's just standing there," Shen answered.

Finley and Hurst, in Turret 3A facing west, were listening intently.

Paolo spoke again, _"What do we do?"_

"_Shoot it?"_ Raul suggested.

"Even if we hit it from this far, will we damage it?!" Dena asked doubtfully.

"_What about heavy ordnance?"_ Paolo asked.

"_Missiles?"_ Raul replied. _"We've only got six."_

"_We don't have much ammo left either,"_ Dena advised.

Hurst tapped Finley on the shoulder. Finley turned to him then followed his pointed finger out towards the forest. Hidden in the depths of the tree line was a large black shadow which Finley knew hadn't been there a short while ago.

He picked up his binocs and took a closer look at the shadow. It was similar to Paolo's description.

He radioed, "This is Finley in 3A. We've got one on our side now."

"_Is it moving?"_ Raul asked.

"No, seems to be just standing there." Finley replied. "We should get some ordnance up here. One for us and one each for 1E and 2E."

"_I'll get some runners on it,"_ Raul replied.

The two guards at the civilian building responded to their radios and quickly moved off from their posts. Zara noticed this through the open door and waited for a couple of minutes before rounding up Caley and the other two.

"The guards have gone. Let's go," she told them.

They walked excitedly towards the exit. Making their way outside the fear of being caught caused them to move slowly, watching for adults.

Coming closer to the lab entrance they hid around a corner when two soldiers ran past carrying large metal cases. The danger gone, they made their way to the lab entrance.

Zara quickly went up to the control panel and was about to enter the code she'd overheard, when Caley pushed open the already unlocked door. None of them were bothered by this; instead the excitement spurred them on as they went inside.

The corridor in front of them was dark, with just a couple of weak lights currently illuminating it. They chose to keep the door open to let daylight in. The four of them walked slowly against one wall trying their best to be stealthy with Zara leading.

Making it halfway into the corridor a low but shrill sound in the distance momentarily froze them. They looked at each other, not with fear, but with ever growing eagerness. The cages which held real life monsters were not too far beyond.

What the children didn't know was that this lab, due to its extremely dangerous contents, should have been impossible for them to enter. There were a number of security measures and lockdowns normally active.

Something was wrong.


End file.
